Ashes still number one for Aussies, says Watson
By Sam Lienert, 2 May 2009 Sam Lienert is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Shane Watson, The Ashes, Twenty20
Players may make their fortunes in Twenty20 but allrounder Shane Watson believes nothing will ever top playing in the Ashes for an Australian cricketer.
If any player could be excused for wanting to make the shorter forms of cricket their focus it is Watson.
The 27-year-old showed how perfectly suited his game is to the 20-over version last year.
His powerful hitting and accurate fast-medium bowling guided the Rajasthan Royals to the inaugural Indian Premier League championship and earned himself the player of the series award.
His international career has been a stop-start affair, repeatedly stalled by injury, the latest setback stress fractures to his back, which have prevented him from bowling since November.
He puts the injury down partly to his bowling action – which he has since revamped – combined with his struggles to cope with the workload of playing four Tests against India and one against New Zealand in October and November.
Before then, he had played just three Tests in his career.
But Test cricket remains his clear priority and the Ashes the No.1 goal, something he says will never change.
“No way, Test cricket is the ultimate for any cricketer, for me it is,” Watson said.
“The Tests I played in India were the biggest challenge I’ve ever played in.
“It just excites me and I’d love to be able to get back into Test cricket because it is a true test of everything in your game – physically, mentally, technically – every single thing over five days.
“For me that is the absolute ultimate and I’d love to have the opportunity again.”
He admitted he was stunned by the amount of money now on offer in Twenty20 cricket and said it was already overtaking Test matches as a potential income source.
“What it’s bringing to world cricket and individuals is staggering really, from the financial benefits it can bring to a cricketer now,” he said.
“I never thought in my time anything like the IPL would ever come along and financially, if you play well in Twenty20, it means auctions and that sort of thing might give you financially more.
“But as an actual cricketer the Ashes is the ultimate test, there’s no doubt about that.
“Commercially, Twenty20 already is probably up there with Test cricket, but as a player it will never come close.”
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Viscount Crouchback said | May 3rd 2009 @ 8:19am | Report comment
Englishmen often look down on the enthusiasm of Australian cricketers. Consider, for instance, the obvious joy Australians derive from wearing the baggy green cap: many Englishmen find this a tad naff, a tad syrupy, a tad cringeworthy. And perhaps it is. But is it not wonderful to see young men display uninhibited delight in the purest game of all, Test cricket?
The contrast with the English players is all too stark. They have become “player plcs” – chaps for whom the financial numbers are more important than the cricketing numbers. Thus Flintoff flogs himself in the IPL, incurring (inevitably) another serious injury in the process. Thus a chap like Michael Vaughan imagines that he can talk his way into the team rather than play his way in.
Greed in sport is not unique to England – witness Greg Growden’s eye-opening accounts of the contretemps within Australian rugby just now – but there can be little doubt that Australian cricketers care more about the Ashes than English cricketers. This, mroe than anything else, is why Australia has been so successful over the past two decade. And this, I think, is why the Australians will win easily again this northern summer.