[2] Sawle was born in East Fremantle, Western Australia, in August 1925.
[4] His highest score was 109 not out, when he led the successful struggle to save the Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales in 1955–56.
[5] Sawle had a distinguished career as state selector from 1961–62 to 1979–80,[4] then as a senior WACA administrator, director of the Australian Cricket Board and chairman of selectors for the national team from 1994 to 1997.
[6] In his state selector role, Sawle partnered with Allan Edwards and Wally Langdon during the Western Australian team's most successful years.
He managed the Australian cricket team in England in 1989, when Australia regained The Ashes.