Lawrence Rowe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 West Indies (WI) |
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 |
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| Batting style | Right-handed batsman (LHB) | |
| Bowling type | Left-arm fast medium (LFM) | |
| Tests | ODIs | |
| Matches | 30 | 11 |
| Runs scored | 2047 | 136 |
| Batting average | 43.55 | 17.00 |
| 100s/50s | 7/7 | 0/1 |
| Top score | 302 | 60 |
| Overs bowled | 14.2 | 0 |
| Wickets | 0 | 0 |
| Bowling average | – | – |
| 5 wickets in innings | 0 | 0 |
| 10 wickets in match | 0 | N/A |
| Best bowling | – | – |
| Catches/stumpings | 17/0 | 2/0 |
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As of 2 December 2005 |
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Lawrence George Rowe (born January 8, 1949) in Kingston, Jamaica was a West Indian cricketer.
Lawrence, also known as "Yagga", was an elegant right handed batsman described by Michael Holding, his team mate, as "the best batsman I ever saw". It was felt that his ability was so extraordinary that Sobers believed he could have been the greatest of all West Indian batsmen. At one game Rowe hit a ball so cleanly that it followed a level trajectory like a guided missile over the boundary for six.
He made his debut for Jamaica in 1968-69. He then made history on his Test match debut v New Zealand at Kingston 1972 scoring 214 and 100 not out, the first time that a cricketer had scored a double and single century on Test debut. It also gave him a batting average of 314 after his first test match.
Rowe was a heavy scorer at his home ground. In 1974 v England he scored 302 in 10 hours.
On his arrival in Australia for the 1975-76 tour Rowe was being hailed as the best batsman in the world. A century in his second test innings in Australia maintained his average at over 70 runs per innings and it seemed to confirm his reputation. The team were humiliated by the Australian side over the rest of the series and Rowe never regained his previously devastating form.
Rowe was a West Indies batting "hero" in the days before Viv Richards. He played 30 Test matches scoring a total of 2,047 runs at an average of 43. He was known to whistle whilst he batted though he seemed to be injury prone; he suffered problems with his eyesight and was allergic to grass.
He played Tests between 1972 and 1980 and played 11 One-day Internationals. Rowe played for Derbyshire in the English County Championship and also joined World Series Cricket. He is one of only four West Indian batsman to have scored a triple century, the others being Garfield Sobers, Chris Gayle and Brian Lara.
Rowe became infamous 1982-83, because he led a rebel tour to South Africa during the days of apartheid when they were isolated from world sport. The West Indian public were outraged by the tour and Rowe himself was ostracised in Jamaica.
