The recent series against India has given us yet more reasons to wonder why Shane Watson is still an ever-present figure in the Australian Test team.
I can only count a handful of times when Watson has been a large part of Australia’s success at Test level.
He is extremely frustrating to watch. To continue believing in him, time after time, failure after failure, seems to be the domain of wishful thinkers.
Having played 56 Test matches regularly as the number three or opening batsmen, he has only managed to score three Test centuries at a mediocre average of 38.
Out of the seven most recent number three batsmen in the seven largest Test playing nations, Watson has the lowest batting average and has scored the equal-second-lowest amount of centuries, despite having the second-highest amount of half-centuries and playing the second-most matches
Admittedly that list contains the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game,
And Kane Williamson, the Kiwi prodigy who has been touted as potentially the greatest batsmen the country has ever produced.
(The full list is at the bottom of this piece.)
The biggest reason Watson is still in the Test team is for his abilities with the ball. He is still currently one of Australia’s premier all-rounders, averaging 1.4 wickets a match at an average of 33.09.
He is good support for Australia’s specialist bowlers as he can bowl economically and be a handy wicket-taker. He is also one of the team’s top slips catchers, which these days are not too common.
On the other hand, Australia has a host of alternatives, the most notable being the much younger and very talented Mitchell Marsh, whose tall muscular physique means he can hit the deck hard, as well as provide explosive batting down the order.
Having already played a handful of Tests, the 23-year-old has shown the potential to be a mainstay in the Test team for the future.
So why not start giving him games now to develop his skills?
Other all-round alternatives are James Faulkner, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Sean Abbott. These are all great players who are also on the fringes of Test selection or exciting prospects in the shorter forms of the game.
So the question is why persist with Watson? He has been around in the Test arena for some 10 years now, and it’s beginning to look more and more like his best years are behind him. Once heralded as the next big thing in Australian cricket, he now looks like a player that could have and should have been Australia’s main player, had it not been for injury and inconsistent form.
With Marsh now bearing down on being a regular starter, is there really a need for another all-rounder? Could his spot instead be given to another upcoming batting talent such as Joe Burns?
Not considering Watson as a regular starter and handing out the baggy green to an alternative is long overdue. He might arguably have three or four years left in him, but if he doesn’t have a late surge and prove himself in the upcoming series against the West Indies, then it’s time to resign him to the scrapheap.
World’s number three batsmen
Australia: Shane Watson
Batting average: 35.74
Matches: 56
No. of centuries: 4
No. of half centuries: 24
No. of runs: 3646
South Africa: Faf Du Plessis
Batting average: 51.67
Matches: 20
No. of centuries: 4
No. of half centuries: 7
No. of runs: 1447
India: Cheteshwar Pujara
Batting average: 49.25
Matches: 27
No. of centuries: 6
No. of half centuries: 6
No. of runs: 2073
England: Gary Ballance
Batting average: 60.75
Matches: 8
No. of centuries: 3
No. of half centuries: 3
No. of runs: 729
Pakistan: Azhar Ali
Batting average: 41.31
Matches: 39
No. of centuries: 7
No. of half centuries: 18
No. of runs: 2851
New Zealand: Kane Williamson
Batting average: 45.96
Matches: 39
No. of centuries: 9
No. of half centuries: 15
No. of runs: 3034
Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara
Batting average: 58.66
Matches: 130
No. of centuries: 38
No. of half centuries: 51
No. of runs: 12203
JT
Guest
Move on kid. Stop crying. Everyone had more than enough of these Watson bashing articles. Making this comment without even reading your article. Its like a song is played a 1000 times & nobody cares about it anymore.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Andy, "probably" is exactly the right word. Another potential option has the chance to be better, but they have a greater chance of being considerably worse, and not a bowler. As Red Kev and I have discussed ad nauseam, all the mug punters say Watson can't bat 3, Smith has too. But since Ponting moved from 3, Watson has batted there in 7 of the 25 test matches. The other 18 they cycled through Hughes, Quiney, Khawaja, Cowan and Doolan. Of those 25 tests in a single innings they have tried either Clarke or Smith. It was Clarke. He scored a duck and was back to his previous spot in the batting order in the second innings. Clearly there is no appetitie for Smith or Clarke to be played at 3, and it's probably in fact Watson doing what's best for the team, batting at the difficult number 3 position, giving the better batsmen that extra 10 overs of the new ball being smacked around, and allowing a young player like Burns to ease in at 6.
Andy
Guest
No other option has a better 1st class average than Watson. And he bowls. We've tried a number of alternatives and none have done better, he's the 5th best batsman in the team, but he's probably also the 5th best batsman in the country.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Callum Ferguson hey? Considering that his FC average is not much better than Watson's test average, I don't know how you come to that conclusion. Unless you are just expecting a 30 year old to suddenly become a prolific run scorer.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Out of interest jamesw, how many runs did Burns need to barge the door down and replace Watto? What hasn't really been answered, as they've only played the one Test together, is whether Watto is going to be expected to bowl much at all moving foward, with Marsh in the team. If the answer is no, then I'd argue Burns asked a few questions...
Craig Watson
Guest
What are you talking about Bob. lol. We have a whole thread on Watto on another sports forum. He is our favorite topic. I agree with you pretty much word for word. Except that Mitch Marsh will not be only a quasi- all rounder. He will be the real deal. He is still a kid. Give him time to mature as mastering both batting and bowling takes time.
Craig Watson
Guest
I would say Joe Burns or Callum Ferguson could both slot into three very neatly and do a better job than Watson. I have always liked Watto. if for nothing else, his courage to fight back from his many injuries and give it his best for his country. Unfortunately Watto has .promised for so long and failed to really deliver. His test record is poor. His conversion rate is poor. His concentration is poor and his technique has frailties. Shane Watson has to be honest with himself and retire.
Bob Sims
Guest
Surely this has to be the last time! We don't need Watson as a quasi-all rounder any more,as the selectors have nominated M. Marsh as their quasi-all rounder for the future. Two in a side is just unnecessary. Australia need a solid and dependable first drop and Watson has proven that is not what he is. Lack of alternatives, I hear you say. Put Burns at three and give him a little time. If that is unsuccessful, try someone else. Who knows how they'll do until they're given a chance. We already know what Watson can do, and it's not enough to hold down that position. Now, no more Watson articles, please!
JMW
Guest
We persist with Watson because we can't pick your Mother.
Anto
Guest
I don't mind him being in the team. I just don't think he should be batting at 3. Put him down at 6. About time Smith made the move to 3, anyway.
ausi
Guest
If you keep re-hshing Watson, you will stay a ROOKIE Liam - he is boring as a subject
Andy_Roo
Roar Guru
Liam, they have been giving M. Marsh games to develop his skills. If not injured he would have played in the last two tests. I think the selectors are obviously looking to replace Watson and if Marsh shows form in the West Indies and Watson doesn't then they will drop Watson for the ashes and move Steve Smith to no.3
planko
Roar Guru
4 possible reasons why Watson is still in the Australian setup. 1) He has one video of one of the selectors doing something very wrong 2) Injuries kept him in the team. 3) His bowling (I believe that he gets wickets and contributes well to others getting wickets by keeping one end very quiet). 4) It is a team sport so sometimes loyalty and keeping some people is important cause to be honest at times I have thought Lyon should have gone the way of the dodo as well but apparently he is a great team player. The cynic in me says it is 1) but realisitically it is a combination of 2 , 3 & 4.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Well Australia better get used to it since that appears to be what the replacement options are capable of.
jameswm
Guest
Yeah but can you afford to carry a no.3 who scores "a decent amount of runs"? if Marsh bats 6, Watto can only play as a no.3. Do we need a 6th bowler? What's keeping him in is there is no obvious alternative to bat at 3. If Burns had barged down the door, it might have been different. He didn't put enough pressure on the selectors to keep him though.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Erm, poorly timed? I am no fan of Shane Watson (any longer) but this test series he bowled superbly and scored a decent amount of runs. Deserves a run against Windies at least, by which time, it is probably too late for anyone else to come in for the Ashes.
GD66
Guest
C'mon, mate. Slow news day ? CA love him. He's there. That's it.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
If there were players averaging 50 consistently that would be one thing. But there aren't. There's really about 4 viable options. Burns, who has been given a go and likely will remain in the set up, Lynn who is injured, Cowan whose test career was much worse and Voges who is 35. Then there's the others that have been tried to replace Watson - Khawaja, Doolan, Quiney, etc. who have all done nothing to suggest they should be persevered with. There may be a better option out there. But it's a large risk.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
Australia's new favourite past time...Shane Watson bashing...... Anyway while I'm at it...The article itself.. You miss the point.... There is no all-rounder in Australia who will bat 3 and average 35 & be able to bowl and average 33 with the ball and stand at 1st slip in Test Match Cricket. Mitch Marsh for instance can't even average over 30 in First Class Cricket (Watson average is 43 by the way, again from batting in the top 4) batting 6 or 7.
Larney
Guest
I'm with you Train. Over it really. I think this rehash is nothing more than personal. Next story please.....