Wisden overview
"Foxy" Fowler was a left-handed opener who apparently played and missed so often that soon even he hardly seemed to know whether he had an elaborate and irritating way of leaving the ball or whether he was phenomenally lucky. When he did make contact, Fowler was impressive, especially off the back foot. But he was certainly lucky that so many potential openers went on the rebel 1981-82 tour of South Africa: all his 21 Tests came while they were banned. His career reached its apogee with his marvellous 201 in the 1984-85 Madras Test (in conditions very foreign to an Accrington lad), but after one more game Graham Gooch came back and Fowler was history. He remained a solid force for Lancashire, and then turned his cheeky-chappie image to good effect as a radio summariser. Matthew Engel

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd