Melbourne, Dec 26: Making his Test debut in the Boxing Day encounter against India, 29-year-old opening batsman Ed Cowan played a solid innings of 68. Seeing the shine off the new ball in overcast conditions, he stayed put at the crease even as wickets tumbled around him. At the end of Day 1, the Aussie opener felt the hosts had their “nose ahead” at 277 at six.

Excerpts from the end of day media interaction

On whether he was nervous playing his first Test

Strangely, I wasn't nervous. I can't explain why. I was a little anxious when we won the toss and batted, but no more than we would've been if I was playing state cricket for Tasmania at Bellerive. Those nerves of wanting to contribute for the team upfront [were absent]; it's my job to set the game up. I should've been a lot more nervous. I had to keep pinching myself to think, 'Mate, you should be more nervous here, more anxious.' But being relaxed really helped me through it and it felt like another bat on ball contest.

On his slow scoring-rate at the beginning of the innings

It didn't really feel like I was slow to get going. It really feels like a new-ball wicket so that first hour's [you] just [need] to leave well, play the ball late. I'm not a big scoreboard watcher at the best of times so I didn't really notice I wasn't scoring. It just felt like I was playing well. I was in the contest and the runs came after lunch when they probably didn't bowl as well as they wanted to. But when they did bowl well, it was hard to score.

On batting alongside Ricky Ponting

Every moment you get to bat with Ricky Ponting is a special one. Having grown up watching him play on the TV, it's just a huge honour to be in the same team as him, whether it's [for] Tasmania or Australia. I thought he played beautifully today. He got shaken up with a good bouncer early that busted the side of his helmet but it's a measure of the man that he was calm enough to get through that tough little spell and play as well as he did.

On the praise he has received

I've stopped reading the press, but you still have a little bit of a sneak. It's your Test debut, why not? […] It was just great to contribute and hopefully I can keep scoring runs to keep ensuring selection.

On the most memorable moment of his first day in Test cricket

Before the game, that moment of getting the baggy green and putting it on my head – that's something that will certainly stay with me. I was pretty keen to face the first ball, that's the stuff you tell your grandkids about: facing the first ball on Boxing Day. The first run was nice because it means not walking off with a duck next to my name. But I think probably the straight drive, my first four, was as good a shot as I played.

On Mike Hussey’s first-ball dismissal being the turning point of the day

It's a bit of gut-wrenching experience, doesn't matter whether it's first ball or you're on 150. It was a massive movement in the game, a huge moment. We'd just had a 100-run partnership, wrested back the momentum, [put together] almost a 50-run partnership. We felt we were really half an hour away from really nailing them, grinding them into dust. We get through that Zaheer [Khan] spell unscathed and it's a completely different complexion to the day's play.

On batting on wickets that pose a challenge to the batsmen

Your technique has to be good, you've got to know where your off stump is. Batting becomes easier when you get wickets that don't look like your front lawn. The ball is still moving [in the ongoing Test]; we saw with the second new ball, the over [that] Zaheer Khan [bowled] around the wicket to Michael Clarke; [it] pitched off stump, beat the outside edge. That was the 64th over. So there's still a bit in the wicket if you're prepared to bend your back.

On Australia’s decision to bat first

We were always going to bat. We know it's a new-ball wicket. We were prepared to do the hard yards up front to reap them later in the day, which we did to a degree. Was it Ian Chappell who said nine times out of ten you bat and on the tenth, you think about bowling but still bat first? We were always going to bat and set up the game from there. That's positive cricket.

On where the match stands after Day 1

I thought it was a great day's cricket. The bat had its moments; the ball had its moments. There was turn, there was bounce, but if you were good enough to play your shots, you could score runs. So it was great to see a good cricket wicket on Day 1. They bowled really well in patches and I thought we batted well in patches. I think we've got our noses ahead.

On the Indian bowlers

I think [Umesh] Yadav bowled pretty similar to how he bowled in the practice game, to be honest. He's raw, he's exciting, he's got a bit of X-factor. I thought Ishant Sharma was the pick of the bowlers, particularly that middle spell in the middle session. That was hard work. He bowled beautifully – 20 overs for 40 runs all day. I thought he was the pick. [R] Ashwin bowled really well all day. I thought he mixed his pace up well, over and around the wicket, kept changing that.