Rowe made his first appearances for the Kent Second XI in 1969, before going on to make his first-class cricket debut for the county against Surrey in May 1974. Initially an all-rounder who batted in the middle order, Rowe played regularly for Kent throughout the remainder of the 1970s. He scored 1,065 runs in the 1978 season, including 980 in the County Championship as Kent won the competition, having been joint champions the previous season. During 1978 he was promoted to open the batting for the county, a role which he had not played before.