Watson thriving despite Boxing Day stumble

Shane Watson - (AP Photo/Gautam Singh)

There’s much of the your favourite soapie in Shane Watson. Blond hair, easy on the eye, emotion, twists you never saw coming, tragi-comedy and prolonged suspense. Add to that, the more you get, the better it is.

Watson’s new way of missing out on a maiden Test century might cause him a chuckle one day, but his slow, pained walk off the MCG on Boxing Day, after a howler of a mix-up with Simon Katich, showed the personal agony of again falling short of his lifelong dream.

But before he was run out by Pakistan on day one of the first Test, Watson did his job and continued silencing the doubters who reckon he is not up for the job of opening the innings for his country in Tests.

In 11 innings as an opener, since the third Ashes Test, Watson has amassed 596 runs at 54.11, with six half-centuries and only one score under 30 – a duck against the West Indies in Brisbane in November.

In that period, he and Simon Katich have amassed 836 runs together, at 76.45, with three century stands in as many matches.

Those numbers make tough reading for anyone pushing for specialist opener’s position like Phillip Hughes, Chris Rogers or Phil Jaques to replace Watson at the top of the order.

Continually falling short of centuries is not the world’s biggest sin.

In contrast to the calls for Watson to bat down the order, his progress this season is evidence that the more work and responsibility he gets, the better his performances are.

In his early Test matches as a fifth bowler batting at No.7, Watson had only a limited impact on games.

In his three matches against the West Indies, when he opened the batting and bowled more overs of his fast-medium pace, his impact was pronounced.

He scored 263 runs with the bat (average 52.60) and claimed eight wickets at 26.12.

His wickets included some big scalps too – century-maker Adrian Barath in Brisbane, the obdurate Brendan Nash twice, Chris Gayle in Perth and, in the same innings, Narsingh Deonarine, who had made 82.

Watson’s figures against the Windies were those of a true allrounder, a player who can command a game based solely on either his batting or bowling.

It might cause little consolation, but his knock on Boxing Day improved his overall batting average to 35.54 to better that of his bowling mean (34.45).

Watson has had his share of injuries over the years, but appears now as one of those athletes who thrives on hard work.

It’s a big call, but Watson could be on the way to becoming Australia’s best Test allrounder since the likes of Keith Miller, Alan Davidson and Richie Benaud.

If falling short of three figures is the chink in his armour, surely Australia have few concerns.

How the Shane Watson run-out during day one of the Boxing Day Test unfolded:

* Australian opener Simon Katich glides the ball to backward point, and moves off part-way down the pitch.

* Shane Watson, on 93 at the non-striker’s end, takes off for a run and while watching the ball, doesn’t see Katich turn and retreat towards his crease.

* The pair end up at the same end of the pitch as Pakistan fieldsman Salman Butt retrieves the ball and fires it back to the opposite end.

* Katich lands his foot inside his crease just a split-second before Watson.

* Katich turns and starts to move out of his crease again, but importantly has his foot grounded just as the stumps are broken at the other end.

* A bewildered Watson waits as umpires Billy Doctrove and Rudi Koertzen refer the matter to the video umpire to determine which batsman is out.

* The umpires determine it is Watson, and he is dismissed seven runs short of his maiden Test century.

THE RULE

Law 29 (batsman out of his ground):

2. (c) If there is no batsman in either ground, then each ground belongs to whichever of the batsmen is nearer to it, or, if the batsmen are level, to whichever was nearer to it immediately prior to their drawing level.

© AAP 2012

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