Cowan: The man only a purist could love | Thebigtip

 Much has been of Ed Cowan's background; that he was privately educated, has a university degree in business and has penned a season diary before making his international debut, but not much has been said about how the New South Welshman turned Tasmanian scrapper is the perfect fit in the Test team. 

He might be the poster boy of Richard Hinds' Real Openers Twitter campaign (check out #realopeners on Twitter), but Cowan's not likely to draw huge legions of youngsters to the game (he'll leave that to Dave Warner) or appear on the poster you find in each Inside Cricket Magazine. 

Cowan's a fighter; the chalk to Warner's explosive hitting cheese, and perfectly complements an Australian top order that shows as much backbone as Jelena Dokic when things aren't going her way.

While Warner, Clarke and Watson (one half of the top six) play their shots - they can go from cracking exquisite cover drives to picking out slips fielders in an instant - Cowan's not afraid to leave the ball or hold up an end with solid as a rock defensive play. He's the perfect partner to Warner; happy to watch him launch balls out of the ground, but never lets his game be affected by the ease with which Warner is dominating the attack. 

Cowan is the unattractive, steady, stoic opener who only a purist could love*; but the opener that the Australian Test team has been crying out for. He puts a huge price on his wicket and never lets go.

Watching Cowan bat is like watching a mongrel mutt with a chew toy - it mightn't be pretty but the poor bastard never lets go. Heck, both Cowan and the dog win the battle more often than not. 

The Australian public has been crying out for the top order collapses to stop; and the answer is simple - you need a few mongrel mutts to go with your fluent strokemakers who can make the game look too easy one instant and be back in the pavilion an instant later. 

While a Watson and Warner opening partnership might be quite the spectacle for those 20/20 adoring fans; i'd certainly argue that Cowan shouldn't be dumped as soon as Watson is fit - for he's worth more than the runs he makes - he plays like a true opener and protects the middle order (the same middle order with an inability to cope with a swinging ball).

*Ed's game isn't completely devoid of beauty though, that coverdrive is pure bliss to watch.