Harry Owen Rock

Graham Clayton on the forgotten man of Australian first-class cricket

If a player ends his Sheffield Shield career with a batting average of over 100 and scores a century on debut against three other states, one would expect that player to be a household name. Instead, Dr Harry Owen Rock remains one of those extraordinary players whose career is remembered only by cricketing aficionados. What makes his career even more extraordinary is that he was dropped from matches because better quality batsmen were available! 

Harry Owen Rock was born in Scone, New South Wales on 18 October 1896. His father, Claude William Rock, had been a Cambridge Blue, played for Warwickshire and then played three matches for Tasmania between 1888/89 and 1892/93. He then moved to New South Wales in 1894. 

Rock moved to Sydney for his education and boarded at the King’s School, Parramatta. Here he received coaching from the former Australian Test player Gervys ‘Gerry’ Hazlitt and Ernest ‘Mick’ Waddy, who was the Australian 12th man against England at Sydney in the fifth Test of the 1907/08 series. 

Rock enlisted with the First AIF during World War One. He was severely wounded in France, which forced him to adopt a very upright batting stance. The war also left him with chronically weak knees, which also affected his cricket. 

On return, Rock attended Sydney University where he commenced studies for a doctor’s degree. He played for Sydney University in the Sydney grade competition from the 1919/20 season onwards. Between 1920/21 and 1923/24, Rock scored over 500 runs in each grade season but was never chosen to play for NSW. The closest he got was to be 12th man against South Australia at Adelaide in the opening match of the 1921/22 Sheffield Shield season. His sole contribution was to catch L.V.Pellew off the bowling of O.P.Asher in the South Australian first innings. 

Rock’s chance finally came with the New South Wales versus South Australia match at the Sydney Cricket Ground in November/December 1924; H.L.Collins, W.Bardsley, C.Kelleway and C.G.Macartney were unavailable and later J.M.Taylor dropped out of the team. Rock was brought into the team as an opening batsman to replace Collins. 

He did not waste the chance, scoring 127 and 27*. His century took 140 minutes and included 14 fours. He became the sixth NSW player to score a century in their debut Sheffield Shield innings. New South Wales won by nine wickets. 

Journalists writing in the Sydney newspapers were very impressed by the right-handed opening batsman’s rather belated first-class debut at the age of 27. They commented on his upright, stiff stance, powerful driving and cutting, and his ability to place the ball and keep the scoreboard ticking over. 

Rock declined an invitation to travel to Adelaide to play in the return match against South Australia. His next match was against Victoria at the Sydney Cricket Ground in late January 1925. The late finish of the third Test between Australia and England at Adelaide meant that H.L. Collins, J.M. Gregory, J.M. Taylor, T.J.E. Andrews, C. Kelleway, W.A. Oldfield and A.A. Mailey could not play. Rock opened again in the New South Wales’ first innings and scored a career high of 235, made in 387 minutes with 15 fours, and 3 chances. His partnership of 268 for the third wicket with A.F. Kippax (212) is still the New South Wales record for the third wicket against Victoria. Despite a solid 51 in the second innings, New South Wales lost the match. Rock also kept wicket after tea on the last day; NSW wicket-keeper A.T. Ratcliffe fielded after taking a couple of blows. 

Rock missed the return Sheffield Shield match against Victoria in Melbourne, as it commenced the day after the Sydney game. The match had been postponed from earlier in the season due to Test commitments and rain. He also missed the second NSW v MCC match at Sydney in February 1925 due to university exams. He ended the 1924/25 season with a first-class aggregate of 440 runs, at 146.66. He also topped the Sydney grade competition with 656 runs at 54.68. 

The 1925/26 season was an important summer, with an Ashes tour of England in 1926. Rock started the season as he had left off in 1924/25, scoring 151 against Western Australia at Sydney in November 1925. The Western Australians were making their first tour of the eastern states. Rock played his usual quick-scoring style; his innings was scored in 125 minutes with 19 fours. 

In December 1925 a match was played at Sydney between an Australian XI and The Rest as a trial to aid selection for the 1926 tour of England. This match was crucial to Rock’s representative ambitions but it was the only time that he failed, scoring 12 and 35. Rock, according to newspaper sources, was unlucky in the first innings. He had established himself when he was bowled by a brilliant J.M. Gregory outswinger. 

Rock travelled to Adelaide for the match against South Australia in December 1925 but was made 12th man on the morning of the game. In Sydney there was widespread criticism of his omission. J.C.Davis in the Referee said of Rock’s demotion ‘the most extraordinary case of the omission of a player from the New South Wales team for over 30 years. On the fast, true wickets of Australia, I consider no NSW batsman is superior to Rock…. Rock is easily the finest cover driver in Australian cricket today.’

Luckily for Rock, fast bowler S.C. Everett strained his side in the match and could not be considered for the next Shield game against Victoria in Melbourne, also in December 1925. Due to the fact that Collins and Bardsley, the Test openers, were playing Rock batted at the unusual position of number seven. He contributed 81 to the huge NSW total of 705. He was considered unlucky, being given out lbw off an inside edge. 

Rock missed the next game in the Shield against South Australia at Sydney due to a critical university exam. His final first-class appearance was against Victoria in Sydney in January 1926. Once again, batting at number seven, he scored a run-a-minute 39 as New South Wales scored another huge total, namely 708. 

After the end of the 1925/26 season, Rock had passed his medical examinations at Sydney University and was now a qualified doctor. When he was not chosen in the 1926 touring team to England, he retired from all cricket and set up practice as a doctor in Newcastle, 160 kilometres from Sydney. After his medical career, he moved back to Sydney and passed away at Manly on 9 March 1978, aged 81. 

Rock may have retired just one season too early. In 1926/27, New South Wales were without H.L. Collins, W. Bardsley, J.M. Gregory and C. Kelleway, so a player with his obvious talent should have been an automatic choice in any first XI. However, maybe Rock thought he would never gain a regular selection and so opted for the security of his professional medical career.

Graham Clayton blogs at https://graham64.wordpress.com/.

This article first appeared in The Cricket Statistician for Winter 1997. To join the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, and subscribe to the journal, please visit our website: