Shane Watson must earn his keep with Joe Burns looming
Writes Richard Hinds
IF Alanis Morissette had sung about real irony, not merely poor fortune and coincidence, surely she could not have resisted a line on Shane Watson.
Isn’t it ironic the veteran all-rounder’s place in the Australian Test team is safe for now because someone else is injured?
Which is not to say Watson would necessarily have been dropped if the promising Mitchell Marsh’s hamstring had not gone twang during the second Test. Even if those handy dozen overs per innings are now the most compelling reason for his selection.
The absence of injured captain Michael Clarke, concern about David Warner’s thumb and Brad Haddin’s struggles with the bat all count in Watson’s favour.
In a batting line-up that could include rookie Joe Burns and the far from established Shaun Marsh, the cricket miles on the 33-year-old’s clock might have provided a justification for Watson’s retention even if Mitchell Marsh had been fit to assume the all-rounder’s role.
Yet Watson’s failure to seize the No. 3 spot is now beyond dispute.
Whether you consider recent form (72 runs at 18 in the current series), or a stretch of 64 innings in which he has scored just two centuries and a Test average of 35.51, Watson is no more the answer to Australia’s still troubling post-Ponting vacancy than Glenn McGrath.
Watson, however, remains one of The Chosen. Where other players must mount iron-clad cases for selection, the national panel seems to search for reasons to pick him.
This must bemuse a few on the edges of the Australian team such as Ed Cowan, the discarded opener whose four Sheffield Shield centuries this season scored at an enterprising rate were not enough to convince Rodney Marsh and his fellow selectors he was worth another chance.
The Queenslander Burns is, at 25, is an exciting and perhaps timely selection. But in an era where the likes of Michael Hussey and now Chris Rogers have prospered long after the candles on their birthday cakes could be classified as bushfires, the 32-year-old Cowan must wonder if his card has been marked.
Meanwhile Watson maintains the favour of the powers-that-be on the basis of increasingly distant feats and, even nearing the end of his career, what the selectors imagine he might do.
No question that, at his very best, Watson is a wonderful player. Only the rifle crack from Matthew Hayden’s bat created a more satisfying aural sensation than Watson’s sweetly struck straight drives. And if that draught-horse approach is not quite resonant of Michael Holding’s liquid stride, an ability to maintain a tight line and nip the ball about still makes him a more than handy fifth option.
Watson has also, at times, been unfairly maligned. Constant injury was the result of a heavy workload early in his career not, as some unkindly hint, some kind of personality flaw. He has worked harder than most just to get on the park.
Reckless use of the DRS created a reputation for selfishness. Inevitable when your middle stump is uprooted and you’re tempted to ask Hawkeye if the bails came off.
But far more infuriating over recent seasons has been a front pad that, when planted in front of middle stump, provides the most attractive target this side of the triple-20 on Phil “The Power” Taylor’s dart board. Indiscriminate wafts like the one with which Watson sacrificed his wicket in the second innings in Brisbane when a calm 40 or 50 was required add to the growing frustration.
Looking forward to an Ashes tour, the most sensible option would be for Watson to drop to No. 6 in Melbourne as a direct replacement for Mitchell Marsh and for someone else — perhaps Shaun Marsh — to be allowed to audition at No. 3.
But to make that move acknowledges Watson’s time in the top order has come and gone and he must once again earn his keep as an all-rounder. A difficult task when your replacement in that role has not only been groomed, but made a strong impression.
