The selectors have finally lost faith in Shane Watson. After 14 months of modest form in the one-day arena he was dropped for the match against Afghanistan at Perth yesterday.
He was then forced to watch his teammates, in the words of Geoffrey Boycott, “fill their boots”.
A World Cup record 6-417 was plundered. David Warner led the charge with 178 while Steve Smith, the replacement at number three, made 95. Glenn Maxwell made 88 off a mere 39 balls.
It would have been a bitter pill for Watson to swallow.
But, in essence, he has only himself to blame.
He was given an extended run in the hope he would find form but alas it was not to be.
He opened his World Cup campaign with a golden duck against England and followed up with 23 – albeit third highest-score – in Australia’s loss to New Zealand.
He also failed to make the most of his two starts in the practice matches heading into the tournament with 34 against the UAE and 22 against India.
It was the continuation of a protracted lean trot.
His past 11 ODI innings – dating back to January 2014 – produced 245 runs at 22.3.
In that period there was just the one half-century – 82 against South Africa at Sydney last November – and three ducks.
Each of those innings was played at number three in the order.
While his batting form has been scratchy for over a year. his bowling has been problematic for even longer.
Since 1 January 2013 he has played 28 ODIs for just nine wickets at 73.7 with an economy rate of 5.8.
In his four ODIs this year he has bowled just 15 overs and has not claimed a wicket.
It is principally the one-day arena that has been Watson’s strength in international cricket.
Despite Warner’s best efforts yesterday, Watson still holds the Australian record – 185no against Bangladesh at Dhaka in April 2011.
His overall record in his 182-match one-day career is solid – 5501 runs at 40.1 and 164 wickets at 31.2.
But in the last year or so he has been a shadow of his former self.
His form virtually forced the selectors to make a change.
With James Faulkner cleared to play his first match of the tournament someone had to give way.
The two in the firing line were Watson and Maxwell.
For team balance, and given the fact that his numbers were nowhere near as strong as desired, it was Watson who made way.
The move to number three for Smith proved to be no problem at all – albeit against an Afghan attack.
It was Smith’s eighth knock in the pivotal first-drop position, in which he now has an average of 67.6 and from where he has scored two of his three ODI centuries.
Smith’s inventiveness allied to a solid defence makes him an ideal candidate for the position. Given he is going to be around for a long time to come – most likely as skipper for the large part – his ascension to the spot permanently makes good sense.
For Watson it is now a matter of injury being the provider of a recall in this World Cup for he is no longer considered to be in the best XI.
And should he return, it will be down the order.
The sight of a limping Mitch Marsh during his bowling spell last night may just reopen the door for Watson, although depending on the pitches that will confront Australia in the remaining matches there may even be the prospect that George Bailey could sneak back ahead of him.
With his 34th birthday looming in June, Watson is now walking a tightrope with respect to his ODI career.
In fact, his entire international career may well be at the crossroads.
Whether the lights will turn green for him again in the one-day arena is a matter of conjecture. Have we seen the last of Watson?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Good prediction wasn't it?
JGK
Roar Guru
The answer would appear to be "no".
Don Freo
Guest
Marsh has a nice outswinger...and good reverse. Can't always demonstrate that in 3 or 4 overs in the 30-40 over pocket.
Don Freo
Guest
Watson was way better than O'Donnell. O'Donnell was just ok, nothing special.
Don Freo
Guest
Marsh acknowledged some lucky wickets. He didn't delve into history...or living memory. He bowled very well. Which game was the game of note. The one where he got a good score or his explosive cameos in the last few overs? He's had a few. Which of them don't you rank?
ak
Roar Guru
Is this really a WC going on??? ICC wants to reduce the number of sides to ten for the next WC. Why??? Why cannot they have 3 matches per day? But no. They will never do that. Why? Because WC is for TV. For advertisements. For commercials. For money. They will lose out on money if they have 3 matches per day. There are 14 sides and one match is going on. What does that mean? That 12 sides are just sitting. How many days have gone since the WC started? More than 20. And how many games has each side played? Not more than 3 or 4. So who is to blame for the WC prolonging ? Associate sides ? Ofcourse not. ICC can certainly arrange more games to be played on a day. In short it is a game of money now. Money talks. Money walks. Not interested in this crap now.
matth
Guest
But there it is. The much maligned useless Shane Watson is firmly in the debate for our greatest ever limited overs all rounder
Darren
Guest
Can't agree on Marxh's bowling. He has had one good game - and even he admitted that was the luckiest 5 for in living memory. He is very straight up and down with little variation. Watson has hardly bowled in the ODI's but in theTest's was clearly a better bowler than Marsh. Marsh has also only had one game of note with the bat in the ODI's. At the moment he is being picked on potential. But to be fair Watson has not been performing very well. I'd still say on balance he is ahead of Marsh and come finals the Aussies would be crazy not to pick him. Good thing was Smith played himself back into form. Started playing straight again. Hopefully that will last as he has looked awful in the WC up until the second half of last night's innings.
13th Man
Guest
I think Watto is finished. Bailey should replace Marsh in Sydney. Clarke and Maxwell can bowl 10 overs between them.
Renegade
Guest
Yeah of course it's his fault that Maxwell and Marsh played park cricket shots - but hey it's fashionable so let's blame Watson.
peter
Guest
He was part of the reason we got into so much strife against NZ he had a start and threw his wicket away - this opened the door as the rest of the team had to come in against an attack that had their tails up and were swinging the ball which is difficult for any batsmen to start an innings.
VivGilchrist
Guest
We all forget how good Simon Odonnell was, don't we?
Glenn Mitchell
Expert
Train Without a Station, I find it interesting that nobody seems to have a problem with young up and coming players being discussed as potential international players yet on the other hand discussing the omission of an older player who is not performing as not the right thing to do. Also, r your comments about Mitchell Johnson, two months prior to the last Ashes series in Australia I was one of the few who stated that he should have his Test career resurrected - http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/09/19/could-mitchell-johnson-be-who-australia-needs-this-summer/
Alex L
Roar Rookie
All we've really done here is traded one plodding injury prone all-rounder (attacking batsman bowling right arm medium-fast) with rubbish shot selection for another, only real difference is Marsh at least bats down the order.
Chui
Guest
They really had to grow a set to drop him before the Afghanistan game. Let's say he 'fills his boots' against them. That would have had in the side for a prolonged period again. Maybe he isn't Elliott Ness after all.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Ronan, I don't think there's a place for him either after the cup. The good money would be on Clarke stepping away from ODI cricket for real post-cup, with Smithy taking over. I doubt they're going to burden him with an aging player who won't make the next cup. The ODI side post-cup could be interesting, no Watto, no Clarke, no Haddin and possibly no Johnson, who may want to focus on Test cricket with an aging body.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Watson's immediate chance is obviously to replace an injured player and the way this Aussie team has been travelling it's almost a certainty he'll get that shot! The interesting question is this - let's assume Watto actually gets one more game in this World Cup (due to injury) and he fails again, does that change anything? What about if he scores big in his next opportunity - especially if it happens to be against Scotland? The interesting thing, assuming he doesn't get recalled during the World Cup, is whether this is the end of his Test Career too. If not, good Test performances might encourage the selectors to recall him in the ODI team as well. However if he's gone for good it'll be a tough road back in next summer as a 34 year old trying to stake a claim for reselection...
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
There may yet be a role for Watson to play in this Cup - there are nearly 4 weeks left for Aus potentially. But beyond this tournament I'm not sure there is a place for him.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Age does have a lot to do with it. I think sometimes with older players selectors are often slower to drop them knowing that when they drop them they are gone, while younger players have the chance to fix things and force their way back. I think there is always a chance that there may be one or two players with a slight niggle going into the Scotland game they they decide to rest them and suddenly Watson gets another game, or even later in the tournament someone gets injured enough to force them out and he's back again. The 15 man squad sizes for the WC mean that it doesn't take much to give someone a second chance.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
He wasn't great last night, but he bowled nice and tight against England and picked up 5 wickets because of it just a couple of games back. When bowling well he can bowl tight line and length, but barely gets it off the straight and doesn't have a lot of good variation. So I think he needs to do more with the ball. But even with that, he can certainly do a job for Australia.