The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Watto we going to do with this all-round problem?

Roar Rookie
19th November, 2014
Advertisement
Shane Watson may be out of the Test side for good. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
Roar Rookie
19th November, 2014
17

Back in 2005 Australia were smote by and smitten with Freddy Flintoff. Not long after, our love affair with Shane Watson began.

He had so much talent. Sure he was injured more often than an octogenarian (or Shaun Marsh), but he had undeniable stuff, the stuff of champions – and his head looked good on a Weet-Bix box.

For a few good years Watto delivered on all his sponsoring promises too. For a time it was almost ok to buy Brut. Watto won the AB Medal – not once but twice – and he thoroughly deserved it, even if he couldn’t quite ton-up like other batsmen.

But recently Watto has teased to deceive more than usual. Every year there is a bit of banter about his place in the side but this year there hasn’t been so much, so what are Roarers thinking?

I personally feel a Watto article every now and then keeps the man sharp. It’s a part of summer, like sandflies. And presently it seems Watto’s role in the Test and ODI sides, while not guaranteed is… actually it is guaranteed. We’d be surprised if he was dropped from the Test team. More likely he’ll be captain!

We all know what he brings. When bowling he is ‘indispensable’, someone who adds ‘balance to the side’ and who ‘picks up handy wickets’. During the Ashes last summer he broke a few key stands and he did hit a century in a real hurry in Perth (even if his eventual dismissal, run-out off a dropped catch, was one of the funnier incidents I’ve seen).

Now let me focus this piece. Watto, you’re 33 now. We know you wish you could find that form you once had by opening the batting for Australia again, but that doesn’t look like it’s ever going to happen. David Warner and Aaron Finch will take us through to the World Cup in the ODIs and, according to Warney, even Phil Hughes has more chance of opening in Tests than you.

Which brings us to consider your involvement in Australia’s middle order. Actually, let’s look at what you’ve done to our middle order. You’ve singlehandedly made it ok for it to be clogged up with your ilk: the sort-of-an-all-rounder type.

Advertisement

There’s Mitch Marsh and Glenn Maxwell helping you out in the ODIs, and a lot of people seem to think you’ll have one of these blokes alongside you in the Test line-up too.

What a trifecta. All match winners. All big hitters. Not front-line batsmen nor front-line bowlers, but all bowl a bit – a bit good sometimes, a bit sh*t sometimes (let’s be honest). Lately Watto your bowling has been more of the latter, and lately your big shots have been going up in the air.

All the while, Australia’s Test batting line up is not exactly rock steady. We have some bankable blokes in there, but with the skipper out there’s a whiff of vulnerability – smells like Brut in a cramped change room. It smells like Watto.

Your ODI batting average this year is not good. Tell me if I’m wrong but it’s 12.5. Your bowling average is 80 something. Expensive, those two wickets you’ve picked up so far.

I don’t know what Maxwell or Marsh’s averages are. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against these sorts of players – it’s nice to have one (1) (uno) (ein) in the team for ‘balance’ and ‘handy wickets’. Indispensable even you might say.

But when there’s a spate of them Watto, I’m beginning to wonder why you are still there and why we can’t just get a proper batsman in there instead. Someone who likes scoring hundreds more than fifties and who doesn’t plant the foot. Someone who focuses on one job.

Call me old school, but what that saying about a jack of all trades being master of none?

Advertisement
close