McEwan received his secondary education at
St Andrew's College, Christchurch,
Graham Dowling's old school, and went on to pass Dowling's run-scoring record for Canterbury. McEwan was a hard-hitting, orthodox right-hand batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. In 1984–85 McEwan was brought in as a late replacement for the Young New Zealand tour of Zimbabwe under the captaincy of
Jeff Crowe. McEwan made his Test debut in the 1979–80 series against the
West Indies and toured
Australia in 1980–81 and
Pakistan in 1984–85. However, he was unable to convert his domestic form into success at international level. The qualification was 500 runs. No one "batted a thousand" for the season, but the nearest was McEwan, He was also the first player to make 100 appearances for Canterbury, ending his career with 103 games. ==Family==