Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Cowan will not give up his beloved opening spot without a fight
Australia opening batsman Ed Cowan is currently facing one of the toughest periods in his life, whereby his opening spot is now in danger of being taken over and his place in the Test side is in doubt as well due to his failures with the bat.
All-rounder Shane Watson and Chris Rogers were recently promoted to the top of the batting order by coach Darren Lehmann, but Cowan has vowed to fight to the end to regain his beloved opening spot.
However, even if he is unable to win the battle, there are still other options lower down the order that may suit him just as well.
“If you’ve got Clarke in there somewhere, there’s three other spots I need to be fighting it out for,” Cowan said. “I’ve always said if you can open the batting you can bat anywhere. And particularly now having been through four Tests in India, if I was to come in in the middle order against spin then I feel really comfortable doing that. I don’t know if I could have said that having not been through that.
“So if you can open the batting against the new ball, you can certainly come in against the older ball. It’s hard to go the other way. I started my career at six for New South Wales, I obviously bat at No.3 in one day cricket for Tasmania and five if Ricky, last season, was playing. So I’ve had some experience, if selected and I’m not opening the batting, then that will be the biggest challenge.
“Finding a way to distract yourself until it’s time to bat because one thing about opening the batting is you start preparing when they’re eight or nine down, you’ve got 10 minutes to put your pads on and out you go. If it’s in the middle order, do you relax, do you stay up? All those little things and that will be a challenge but it’s something I’m just going to have to deal with.”
Cowan has not scored a century since the first Test against South Africa last December.
“I think if you break it down I’m only really interested in being judged on what I do in Test cricket,” Cowan said. “So you can look at all the first-class games, but for me, what happens in Test cricket, I think that was a really positive series for me.
“A few things happened in the Sri Lankan series I wasn’t happy with and India was hard work but I felt I had my head above water by then in that series. This is a huge series, I feel playing against good fast bowling, when the ball swings is right up my alley I guess in terms of my strengths and I know if I get in this series I’ll be making it count.”
The 31-year-old also refused to be unfazed by the English conditions as he has spent a lot of time playing county cricket with Nottinghamshire.
“I think aggressive in England doesn’t necessarily mean playing big shots,” he said. “It means showing intent and looking to score but understanding if conditions dictate the other way you can still be full of intent but not necessarily rocking along on the scoreboard.
“At Trent Bridge there is quite a bit of swing, there is a little bit of natural variation in the wicket, a few little quirks like little sight screens at the members end and the members sit in front. Those little things I now know of and have dealt with, so I can just feel at home and go for my life I guess.”