Nottinghamshire’s decision to recruit Australian Test opener Ed Cowan for the first half of the 2013 season caused some comment and controversy among English cricket. The suggestion was that in giving an Ashes rival the chance to get acclimatised to English conditions and English pitches ahead of the Test series, Notts were undermining their home nation’s preparations for the summer.
Notts, naturally, saw things somewhat differently – the opportunity to bring in a player with experience of cricket at the very highest level to bolster the batting line-up for up to seven County Championship matches and potentially eight Yorkshire Bank 40 ties was a sound and practical decision. It was the case that had Cowan not signed for Notts, he would probably have got an early exposure to an England summer with the planned Australia A tour.
In the event, Cowan did not produce the sort of form that either his new county or his home country would have hoped for. He played just one Ashes test that summer, making 0 and 14 runs in his two innings. For Notts, he made 478 runs at a respectable average of 43.45 but failed to convert any of his four half-centuries, finishing with a top score of 81; he also bowled six wicket-less overs.
Born in Sydney, NSW on 16 June 1982, Ed Cowan batted left-hand but bowled right-arm off breaks. He made a double century for his school XI when only 14 and played for New South Wales at Under-17 level, making his First-Class debut for the state in 2005. He made his Test debut in the Boxing Day test v India in 2011 and played eighteen times for Australia, with a top score of 136 and an average of 31.28. He played List-A cricket at Grade and State level in Australia but was not selected for any One-Day Internationals.
Edward James McKenzie Cowan announced his retirement from First-Class cricket in March 2018.
May 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 623