Ed Cowan      

A move to Tasmania after the 2008-09 season gave Ed Cowan's career the boost he needed. At New South Wales he had struggled to make himself a regular member of the strong batting line-up and the move south brought immediate results. He played every Sheffield Shield match in his first season with the Tigers and he scored 957 runs at 53.16, placing him second on the competition tally. That collection included a career best 225, and he followed during the 2010 off-season with a century for Australia A against Sri Lanka A. It was a far cry from his final summer with the Blues, when he'd made only three first-class appearances in a side where he always felt someone else was hovering, ready to take his place.

Cowan hit a purple patch, with four centuries in four games, just before the start of India's tour of Australia in 2011-12. That form led to his inclusion in the squad for the Boxing Day Test.

One of the most thoughtful characters on Australia's domestic scene - and one of the game's best users of Twitter - Cowan has sought out cricketing opportunities beyond the mainstream. In 2010, he kept in touch by playing club cricket in the Netherlands and he has also played one-day cricket for Scotland in the county competition. In 2003, Cowan was an exchange student to Oxford Brookes University, and after first-class matches against English counties for the Academy side twinned with Oxford, he was selected for the British Universities, scoring an unbeaten 137 against Zimbabwe.

Cowan fielded for Australia as a substitute before he had played for New South Wales. Called from the Members' Bar, he was on the SCG for about five minutes against Pakistan in 2004-05. His state career started in the same season; he played three games but was 12th man for the final victory at the Gabba. The next summer, his season was interrupted by a reconstruction of the big toe on his left foot after he damaged it while batting in a club match.

As a junior, Cowan was the player of the under-17 national championships in Sydney in 1998-99, where he set the record for the highest individual score for a New South Wales player in the tournament's history (218 not out v ACT). He was also a member of the Australian Under-19 World Cup team in Sri Lanka in 2000. Cowan has balanced his cricket with studies: he has a commerce degree, has worked as an analyst for an investment bank and studied his masters in applied finance.
Brydon Coverdale