Shane Watson is now on track to bowl in the first Test at the Gabba, in a major boost to Australia’s chances of getting the jump on England in the Ashes.
Australia believe they’ve got the bowling plans to end England’s Ashes dynasty, and now key man Watson is on deck, they also have the tools to execute.
“Our plans have got a lot stronger,” said fast bowling leader Peter Siddle.
“We know what to do differently. We know how to approach it and we’ll attack it hard.”
Even if Watson can only contribute a handful of overs, having a fourth seamer on deck along with spinner Nathan Lyon at the batting-friendly Gabba provides Australia with a significant advantage.
Watson was expected to be restricted to batting only in Brisbane after suffering a hamstring injury during the last match of the one-day tour of India.
But at Australia’s first full training session at Allan Border Field on Monday, Watson rolled his arm over in the nets and ran through his run-up.
Team physio Alex Kountouris expects Watson to be able to answer the call from his captain at some stage during the match.
“He’s on track to be bowling in the next week which means he might bowl in this Test match if he keeps making good progress,” said Kountouris.
“Obviously the Test is a long game so we’re building him up to bowl whenever he’s ready to go. So if it’s this Test that’s great, if it’s a bit longer then that’s how it’s going to be.
“We’re just taking each stage as it comes. When he’s ready to move onto the next stage we’ll move on. We’ll reassess and make a decision tomorrow where we go from there.”
Given Watson’s long and painful injury history, it may seem like a risk to be rushing him back to bowl so soon.
But Kountouris said Watson had been running for a week now and has only spent two weeks not bowling, meaning it doesn’t take long to build his loads up again.
Watson suffered the injury bowling, so the medical and training staff are examining the 32-year-old’s action carefully.
On Monday he ran through his bowling run up several times with ball in hand on the field, before heading to the nets where he delivered about two overs to skipper Michael Clarke off about six paces, before putting the pads on for a bat.
“We’re realistic he’s coming back from an injury,” Kountouris said.
“He’s an important batter and we’ve taken no risks in getting him here so we’ll continue to do that.”
England’s batting line-up is arguably the strongest in world cricket, and in recent series – Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott have all made Australia pay.
At the corresponding Brisbane Test in 2010/11, England finished at 1-517 in the second innings.
During the winter Ashes, Ryan Harris was a standout, while Siddle was immense early before struggling for impact as the series went on.
Siddle said he is inspired by Harris and excited Mitchell Johnson is back.
“(Harris and I) bring out the best in each other. We back each other up. Having him there knowing how hard he fights, how well he bowls, he’s just one of those players you want in your team,” he said.
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