Ken Mc Ewan

Ken Mc Ewan

Kenneth Scott McEwan, born at Bedford, South Africa on 16 July 1952, was a cricketer who played principally for Eastern Province and Essex.

A right-handed middle-order batsman, McEwan's cricket career coincided almost exactly with the period in which South Africa was banished from international cricket because of the apartheid policies of its government. McEwan first played for Eastern Province at the age of 20, and was recommended to Sussex by the future England captain Tony Greig. But Sussex had its quota of overseas players and in 1974 McEwan went on to the staff at Essex, having played just two seasons in South African cricket and without a first class century to his name.

It proved a good signing: McEwan scored just over 1,000 runs in his first season at an average of 30 runs per innings, and for the next 11 seasons comfortably exceeded those figures in every year. In 1977, he scored centuries in four consecutive first-class innings and the following year he was named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 1978 edition of the almanack. His best season was 1983 when, with 2,051 runs at an average of 68.36, he headed the national runs tally in the season.

With McEwan as its leading batsman, Essex achieved the first successes in its history, winning the County Championship in 1979, 1983 and 1984, the Sunday League in 1981, 1984 and 1985, the Benson & Hedges Cup in 1979 and the NatWest Trophy in 1985.

Though unable to play Test cricket, McEwan returned to South Africa most winters to play for Eastern Province, but from 1979 he had two seasons in Australia with Western Australia. He retired from Essex after the 1985 season, but continued to play five more seasons for Eastern Province, during which the club won its first two Currie Cups (the latter shared with Western Province). McEwan finished his career in 1991-92 with one season for Border.

In all cricket, McEwan scored 26,628 runs at an average of more than 41 runs per innings. His career total of 74 centuries is second only to John Langridge's 76 among players who never played Test cricket. He was also an occasional wicket-keeper and a fine close fielder.