Lawrence Rowe

Lawrence Rowe was a Jamaican batsman who produced the greatest debut in Test cricket history, scoring a double century and a century in his first match, before his career was overshadowed by a controversial rebel tour to apartheid South Africa.

Lawrence George Rowe, nicknamed 'Yagga', was born on January 8, 1949, in Kingston, Jamaica, and made his first-class debut for Jamaica in the 1968-69 season. He announced himself to the cricketing world in stunning fashion on his Test debut against New Zealand at Sabina Park in February 1972, scoring 214 in the first innings and an unbeaten 100 in the second, becoming the only batsman in history to score both a double century and a century in his first Test match. Rowe's elegant, back-foot-dominant strokeplay drew comparisons to the great George Headley, and in March 1974 he produced arguably his finest innings, scoring 302 against England at Kensington Oval, Barbados, only the second triple century by a West Indian after Garfield Sobers. Teammate Michael Holding later called him 'the best batsman I ever saw,' and Sobers himself believed Rowe had the talent to become the greatest West Indian batsman of all time. Rowe's career was persistently hampered by eye problems, allergies, and injuries that limited his consistency, particularly outside the Caribbean, and it came to a controversial end when he led a rebel West Indies team on tours to apartheid-era South Africa in 1982 and 1983, defying the global sporting boycott. The tours led to his effective banishment from West Indian cricket and lasting controversy in Jamaica, prompting his move to Miami, though he was later honoured as one of Jamaica's top five cricketers of the 20th century. He finished his Test career with 2,047 runs at an average of 43.55, including seven centuries.

Elegant, composed right-handed batsman renowned for back-foot strokeplay and effortless power

Regarded by contemporaries as one of the most naturally gifted batsmen the Caribbean has produced, his legacy complicated by his role in the 1980s rebel tours to South Africa

• Only player in Test history to score a double century and century on debut (1972)
• Second West Indian to score a Test triple century (302 vs England, 1974)
• Named one of Jamaica's top five cricketers of the 20th century
• Described by Garfield Sobers as a potential greatest-ever West Indian batsman