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Redemption loomed for Australian cricket on the opening day of the first Test against India at the MCG.
Before a record crowd for an Australia-India MCG Test of 70,068, newcomer Ed Cowan batted like an old-fashioned opener for two-and-a-half sessions, his partner Dave Warner made a controlled 37 and Ricky Ponting scored a handy 62.
At 3-159 it seemed like the old days.
At 6-277 at stumps it was more like recent times after another Australian middle-order collapse and an impending case of under-achievement.
Despite Ponting’s decent knock, the greatest positive for the Aussies on a day when fortunes changed as dramatically as the weather was Cowan.
The 29-year-old displayed the patience and technique of a traditional opener in his innings of 68, only to suffer a terminal bout of bewilderment as his middle-order team-mates came and went with dismal haste.
Cowan faced 177 balls before becoming India’s sixth victim with the score at 214.
Only Warner and Ponting can claim to have played responsibly, although Michael Hussey may have been the victim of an unfortunate caught-behind decision.
Other than that, the excuses are worn out – as fast bowler Peter Siddle proved with his latest rescue effort of 34 not out.
Shaun Marsh at No.3 played all of the six balls he faced with inexplicable hesitation and suspicion and scored from none of them.
Captain Michael Clarke went next for 31 when he looked capable of many more and then Hussey was out first ball.
Cowan at least showed himself to be a player with promise – even though he is almost 30.
The New South Welshman who honed his game in Scotland, Holland and most recently for Tasmania, arrived at the crease with conditions most dangerous.
With the MCG lights switched on for the start of play and the sky heavy, the openers made a respectable start before Warner lost his wicket as much to a brief rain shower as anything else.
After leaving the ground for less than five minutes, he edged the first ball he faced after the resumption to MS Dhoni behind the wicket.
For Cowan, the end came thanks to an innocuous ball from Ravi Ashwin after he had endured the best of the bowling and the worst of the conditions.
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