Much of the commentary, analysis and opinion about Shane Watson focuses on his batting.
Where should he bat? Should he open? Where does he make most runs?
Some debate has surrounded his bowling but mostly again from a batting perspective. What batting position allows Watson to bowl the most overs?
Yet Watson is arguably a better bowler than he is batsman. So shouldn’t the focus be on what is best for his bowling output?
Shouldn’t we focus on his bowling first and his batting second?
With that in mind, I have looked at his bowling record based on his batting position.
When batting in the lower order, Watson has taken 14 wickets in 11 innings at an average of 34.
When opening the batting he has taken 46 wickets from 44 innings at an average of 27.
Watson bowls an average of 11 overs per innings overall, 14 when batting lower and 10 when opening the batting.
While this is only a brief analysis of his statistics, it shows that Watson’s best bowling results come when he is opening the batting.
Neuen
Roar Rookie
You will note his batting average goes down and his bowling average went up. I think they need to be pared up and the best is to use him at first change with another strike bowler or container depends on the situation. Opening th bowling he avg 52 with a SR of 126 At first change he avg 29.54 with a SR of 57.8 At 2nd change he avg 21.94 with a SR of 48.2. This is where he bowled most of his overs as well But when there is assistance for bowlers he picked up wickets but when its flat he really struggle as lack the zip of a strike bowler