Before Michael Clarke started his run of form, Shane Watson was opening the batting, bowling and was our most important player – his innings were getting us out of terrible positions.
Shane Watson was once our X-factor when no one else was there. He has fallen from grace however.
His injuries have been almost predictable and more frequent. As the South Africa Tour stands, our top order has stood up with two centuries, an 89 from debutant Alex Doolan and Shaun Marsh is making a strong argument to be named man of the match – this against the ‘best pace attack’ in the world.
Watson has not batted in form for as a while, innings such as the Perth Test have been a rarity, and there is no longer a place for him in our batting line-up.
I am a firm believer of introducing new, younger players into our current and was therefore pleased to see Doolan make his debut, as many ex-cricketers rated him very highly.
Doolan has done very well in this Test and should get another go, probably for the rest of the series.
Who else would you get rid of? Marsh? No. Steven Smith? No. Brad Haddin… keep dreaming. Michael Clarke? Out of the question.
Chris Rogers is the only person who has not earned his place during this Test, but he has enough runs during the Ashes to keep him secure.
If Doolan or Marsh did under-perform, why replace them with Watson when Phi Hughes has done everything to get into the team bar being selected to play.
What else is left for Watson? Ah, his bowling.
While his bowling is supreme is it worth his poor batting?
Our current bowlers performed well with contributing little to the bowling effort him in the Ashes, while they murdered a few Poms’ careers.
The same bowling line-up is currently dismantling one of the best batting line-ups in the world.
What does Watson have that no one else can provide, or that we need? Nothing.
I used to be a proud backer of Watson, defending him and believing he could return to form and be a world-class player but we no longer have the time to wait for Watson, as we head towards the 2015 World Cup and set our sights on the #1 Test ranking.
James Faulkner has proved to be a more-than-capable all-rounder and had he not been injured, Marsh or Doolan would not have played this Test and Faulkner would have been an X-factor.
When he is fit, Faulkner should take Watson’s place as our all-rounder.
Watson must be left behind, we cannot afford to have dead baggage on our quest to cricketing glory.
He must be forgotten and a new era be ushered in.
With a batting average of 36.33 and 68 wickets from 77 innings, what are we missing really?
His 22 50s and four centuries at 32 years of age does not keep him in the team for his batting. His bowling? Well we have had a tonne of success without it.
Steve Smith could also bowl more now he is confident with his batting (a future captain in my opinion).
We have the talent and the people to replace Watson, previously the only thing that was keeping him in the team.
No. Watson’s time is up.
Nova
Guest
Also second innings when the pressure is off (although all Aussie batsmen are guilty of that at the moment)
Nova
Guest
The difference there is that what you are asking is a player who either gets: 1) hundreds or 2) 60-80 Watson is neither of those. Watson gets 30s often, and even more frequently we find ourselves 2 or 3 down for 40. You need a consistent batsman at first drop; one who could go one to get 150, not one who hits out after gets 30. Doolan is a good fit for now. But I still think Phil Hughes should be considered for the spot in days to come. Watson at 6 or not at all. At 6 he's likely to be facing the second new ball anyway.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Aransan thankyou. Take out those two centuries and he would be gone. Heck if you removed the 103 he would have been in strife.
Larney
Guest
While your at it then, go through the rest of them and then you might see why Watson was our second highest run scorer. Oh, he bowls too by the way.
Aransan
Guest
Although Watson's batting average of 36.33 and bowling average of 31.83 fits the statistics of an all rounder, he just doesn't bowl enough or take enough wickets to be put in the all rounder class. Watson has played in 51 tests and taken 68 wickets (51-68). Here are the corresponding statistics for recognised all rounders: Andrew Flintoff (79-226), Sir Garfield Sobers (93-235), Sir Ian Botham (102-383), Imran Khan (88-362), Jack Gregory (24-85), Jacques Kallis (166-292), Kapil Dev (131-434), Keith Miller (55-170), Sir Richard Hadlee (86-431), Shaun Pollock (108-421). The only all rounder with less than 2 wickets per match is Jacques Kallis and he had a batting average of 55.37 compared to Watson's 36.33 and Watson has been taking less than 1.5 wickets per match. Miller was Australia's last recognised all rounder and that was a long time ago.
Peaches
Guest
After what Johnson has done, I'd never write the career of anyone off. Watson though should not be named in the 2nd test. The team has somewhat left him behind and Doolan surely cannot be dropped after catching tremendously at short leg and batting fairly composed in both innings.
Aransan
Guest
How about: 9, 43, 83*, 10, 103, 18, 0, 51, 6, 22, 26, 176, 2, 68, 18, 19, 20, 30, 46, 13 Out of 20 innings half are 20 or less. Partial explanation of top order batting collapses?
Simon
Roar Guru
Really Jack? Watson's most recent scores in Tests: 45, 83*, 10, 103, 18, 0, 51, 6, 22, 53, 26, 176, 2, 68
Simon
Roar Guru
How can being the second highest run-scorer in 10 Tests be seen as a "one off"? A poorly written, poorly timed article. 12 months ago, and the views expressed in this piece would have held more weight than they do today. His batting form at 3 has been as good as any time during his Test career.
Jamie
Guest
I agree with you Jack that Wattos inconsistency is very frustrating but as an allrounder he's the best we've got. Its great to see the new comers doing well but Watto bowled well last time he was on SA soil and the conditions suit him. Its going to be hard to beat SA without his neat and tidy bowling putting pressure on the opposition for our main bowlers to rest and then take wickets. His batting average is not that different to our other batsmen minus Michael Clarke.
Deccas
Guest
So if there is no room for watson who do you drop for faulkner? I'm amongst watson biggest detractors, I feel like his injuries contribute hugely to the instability of the team, but the usefulness of his overs, and the fact that he isn't a liability in the top 6 goes a really long way. I love Faulkner, I think he will bat 6 for Australia during a really dominant era for us but I think he might be 2 or 3 years away from the team yet.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Not an overreaction. A long thought out process. I used to like Watson but he is no longer as valuable as he once was.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Well we actually may seem none or very little of him as there are huge question marks over whether he will be fit to play on 20h.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Please I wouldn't be writing this article if he had just got 89. The bloke is inconsistent and eve if Steve's stat is right that would simply be a contrast, not an actual average. What I mean is scores of 0-20 and 130+ scores. He doesn't get that 100 often either.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Where do you find this stat O'Loughlin? Not that i don't believe you have looked it up I just find it hard to believe. Besides, how long can he last? Can he really perform there for a while? Or should we just get Doolan/Hughes in now, younger players for a longer time.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Thankyou.
shadow
Guest
i thought it's the bloggers who troll, not the guys who write the articles. Can't wait to see how watson fares in this series.
Aransan
Guest
Watson is averaging 36.33 in tests, his performances as a bowler don't make up for that deficiency. Perhaps he has a future in the shorter game, Clarke was happy to bowl him at the death recently in one such game and Watson closed it out admirably.
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
Tend to agree with you Pom. I think he's a good cricketer and I think he's certainly well respected outside of Australia for sure. I'm not 100% sure where he should be batting but he seems to be doing ok at 3 to me. His bowling as well, he's not as quick as he once was but he always ties an end down, he was putting down countless maidens against England (mind you, his grandma probably could have) and helped to build the pressure for the guy at the other end to take advantage of. Still think he's got something to offer for sure.
Larney
Guest
Too much emphasis on that no 100. Would much rather someone get scoresof 60-80 often than someone that may score a few hundreds but not much else. It's just a psychological number.