McEwan had his Benefit Year for Canterbury (the first given by the province) during the 1988–89 season. During the 1990–91 season, McEwan's last, New Zealand Cricket published the New Zealand first-class Master-Blaster averages. The qualification was 500 runs. No one "batted a thousand" for the season, but the nearest was McEwan, who hit 521 runs off 618 balls with a strike rate of 843 per 1000 balls faced. An example of McEwan's strike power was his century at Lancaster Park against Northern Districts. Coming in fifteen minutes after lunch, he was 99 not out at tea, and totalled 103 off 108 balls.