Cowan calls time on remarkable career

Former Australia Test opener Ed Cowan has announced the end of a near 15-year first-class career that saw him play 18 Tests for Australia and earn Baggy Green No.427.

Cowan, who scored 10,097 first-class runs with 25 centuries in 143 matches has announced he is stepping down from professional cricket.

Cowan will not feature in the NSW Blues  final JLT Sheffield Shield match of the season, against Queensland in Wollongong in a week's time.

The left-handed opener, who turns 36 this winter, will continue to play Premier Cricket with Sydney University, a boost for the club ahead of the finals.

"It's been a wonderful journey and I'm grateful for all those who contributed along the way," Cowan said today.

"I'll always cherish the great memories and friendships that the game has afforded me. I feel incredibly lucky to have played around the world with so many great people over such a long period of time.

"I'm indebted to NSW Cricket, which invested a lot of time, money and energy in me from a young age. It's equally as important to recognise everyone at Cricket Tasmania, who were hugely formative in my career.

"I have loved the game from my earliest days and feel incredibly lucky to still do so. At this stage I will continue to play Premier Cricket with Sydney University for the remainder of this season and beyond as we aim for successive titles."

The leading run-scorer in the 2016-17 Shield season and the reigning Steve Waugh Medallist, Cowan was controversially dumped for the Blues opening first-class match of this summer in favour of the younger Daniel Hughes, a decision which national captain Steve Smith – then playing in the NSW team ahead of the Magellan Ashes – took responsibility for.

Once the internationals departed the Blues team Cowan returned, and has played five of NSW's nine matches this season, scoring 336 runs at 42, with three half-centuries.

Cowan scored 68 on Test debut in the 2011 Boxing Day Test against India, before struggling on a three-Test tour of the West Indies in early 2012.

He held his spot for the start of the 2012-13 summer and scored his maiden – and only – Test century at the Gabba against South Africa in November 2012, a typically measured 136 from 257 balls.

The left-hander added two more fifties that summer: 53 in the second innings against the Proteas at the WACA; and 56 in the next Test, against Sri Lanka in Hobart.

He passed fifty once on Australia's ill-fated 2013 tour of India, scoring 86 in Mohali, and his tally of 265 runs for the series was second behind only captain Michael Clarke.

The first Test of the following Ashes tour – also the first of Darren Lehmann's tenure – was Cowan's last as he produced scores of 0 and 14 from No.3, and was dropped for Usman Khawaja for the following match.

Cowan's 18 Tests across a 19-month period produced 1001 runs at 31.28 with six fifties to go with that Gabba ton.

He made his first-class debut in England, and played his first Sheffield Shield match in the 2004-05 summer for NSW.

With NSW ranks overflowing with top-order players such as Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Phil Jaques, Phillip Hughes and David Warner, Cowan joined Tasmania ahead of the 2009-10 season, and played 53 games across six years, including two Shield finals.

He scored a century in the Tigers' Shield final victory in 2011, but couldn't repeat the feat in defeat to Queensland 12 months later.

Cowan called time on a six-year stint with Tasmania after the 2014-15 season, citing family reasons in his move back to Sydney.

He scored 4085 runs at 44.4 with 13 centuries for Tasmania, and had signed a one-year contract extension, but quickly changed his mind saying it was time to put his family before cricket.

He signed on for a return to the NSW Blues ahead of the 15-16 summer, and was at his best in the 2016-17 season, scoring 959 runs at 73.76 in nine matches.

Cricket NSW CEO Andrew Jones said Cowan had made a great contribution to the game on and off the field.

"Ed is a great example of what hard work, self-belief and an ongoing desire to learn can achieve," Jones said.

"He continued to be attracted by the quest to master batting even after playing for Australia and retires at or near the top of his game.

"Ed should be proud of his achievements playing for NSW, Tasmania and Australia and scoring more than 10,000 first-class runs. He will remain a valued member of the NSW cricket family."