Shane Watson brought his injuries, unrealised potential, bizarre antics and overall frustration to the 21st century, where he has become a bitter joke on social media.
Sometimes it is fair: Watson has shown that he can be the best cricketer on the planet, but he has failed to stop the ball thudding into his pads in front of the stumps, and he has failed to stop his body from breaking down.
So far in this World Cup, players have been living up to their career trademarks on the field.
Brendon McCullum has been his typical swashbuckling self, while his teammate Dan Vettori has choked opposing batsmen like it’s 1999. Kumar Sangakarra has been peeling off majestic hundreds, AB DeVilliers has been destroying bowling attacks, and Glenn Maxwell has continued to invent new ways of playing cricket.
Shane Watson has been dropped for being frustratingly average.
Watson hasn’t had a good tournament so far, but there is no way he isn’t in Australia’s best XI. He got a rare good delivery from Stuart Broad against England, was half of the biggest partnership of Australia’s disastrous innings against New Zealand, and alongside Maxwell took the game away from Sri Lanka with a powerful innings of 67.
He’s only averaging 30 for the tournament, but he missed crucial average-boosting games against Afghanistan and Bangladesh due to a combination of weather interference and selection decisions. His bowling was not good against Sri Lanka, but he hasn’t been given much of an opportunity elsewhere with the ball.
There is a certain misfortune about Watson’s career. He was set to become the dashing all-rounder Australia never really had, or needed, during their golden era; a genuinely fast bowler with power through the middle order. As a result of relentless injuries, Watson shaped his game to become Australia’s most skilled regular bowler and a top-order batsman who can be devastating against the new ball.
When his run of injuries cleared, Watson became the star all-rounder Australia craved. In 2011 he won the Test and one-day player of the year awards, alongside his Allan Border Medal. He missed out sweeping the pool with the T20 player of the year award, but he won that in both 2012 and 2013. No other player has won in all three formats at any point.
Watson is the only player to win four consecutive man of the match awards and was IPL player of the tournament in 2008 and 2012. Yet his career is still viewed as a disappointment.
In short-form cricket, Watson has been magnificent. Adam Gilchrist aside, it’s very difficult to argue that Watson is anything other than Australia’s greatest short-form all-rounder. No Australian opening batsman has scored at least 1000 runs at a higher average than Watson in one-day internationals, and Steve Waugh is the only player to have taken more wickets than Watson and have any sort of impact with the bat. Dave Warner is the only other Australian to have scored 1000 T20 international runs, and no Australian has taken as many T20 international wickets as Watson.
Simply, Watson has been a superstar in coloured clothing for his country. Yet he remains incredibly unappreciated.
Watson’s Test form has notably failed to live up to his limited-overs record. Yet, wicketkeepers aside again, he has probably been Australia’s best Test all-rounder since coloured television was introduced.
Watson has been far from a failure, but he has never been a fan favourite. The combination of a bunch of failed reviews, the constant suspicion that he is selfish, his unreliability, and his huge potential has resulted in a player who is almost unlikeable. Unlikable to the point where Australia has turned on him.
It is near impossible to find a picture on Facebook related to Australian sport without a comment calling for something – anything – to replace Watson in the Australian side. Twitter seems to swell with told-you-so bragging as soon as he fails with the bat. There is no nickname that has been used in a derogatory way more than Watto on social media during this World Cup.
If Watson was a politician, his polling numbers would be at Abbott-like levels, yet he has been so good in his career that he deserves to be remembered as a star.
13th Man
Guest
Your kidding yourself about Cricinfo. A website isn't anti a player. More people just think Watto's time is done. Too inconsistent, too injury prone, too much talent out there in Marsh, Faulkner, Maxwell etc to keep picking Watto.
13th Man
Guest
Rod Marsh made the right decision to drop Watto. He has been a great ODI player but his time is done. Mitch Marsh is the better player.
wombat
Guest
Shane Watson should've been dropped ages ago,overrated and never performs under pressure .
Riordan Lee
Editor
You have nailed this. Well said.
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
Part of the problem is Watson himself. He believes he is a top order player. If he intends on bowling, he should bat lower down.
Rudi Edsall
Roar Rookie
Well argued mate. The hate towards Watson, especially in the short form of the game, is bewildering. For my money, the biggest issue he's had has been misuse - his figures would be elite for a number six all-rounder. Unfortunately he bats at 3 and gets judged on that.
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
Watson was reselected by Mark Waugh for the Sydney game for his bowling and then he went for 10 per over. In the WC so far, Marsh 5 wickets at 13.8, econ 5.3. Watson 1 wicket at 84, econ 8.4. The selectors as usual are picking based on sentimentality, can they for once pick on form! I don't care what Watson or anyone for that matter did 5 years ago, its irrelevant, what are they doing in the now?
The Bush
Roar Guru
Be careful confusing Aussie fans disdain for Watto the Test player with Watto the ODI player. Going into this tournament there was a lot of faith by people shown in Watto despite abysmal form over an extended period going into the tournament. It's important to keep some perspective when discussing Watto. Yes Watto's been a fine short form player, but his performance on the weekend was classic Watto - Clarke and Smith do the hard work of rebuilding the innings and Maxi outs on a show like nothing else, wasn't like the pressure was on like it was the last time he batted (and failed). Watto's perception issue isn't entirely his fault, but there are true gripes here. Watto has survived form slumps in Test cricket that no one else has been afforded and instead good young batsman who might have gone on to average in 40s have never been given a good run. Think of his for a second, if Watto's short form stats are so great, how come that young Bangladeshi was the first player to be the top ranked allrounder across all three formats? I think we all know the reason.
b
Guest
I noticed the term all rounder being used a lot in this article, and that's why people don't like Watson. He is an allrounder, who tried to sell himself as a batsman. Another notable point from the article was the "misfortune" of Watson not being able to boost his average against Bangladesh and Afghanistan, this is another reason people don't like Watson. He has a reputation for scoring meaningless runs, and failing when he is really needed, it was his nothing shot to Vettori that started the rot against New Zealand. And let's not forget Watson's mobility, or lack of. Batting, bowling or fielding he is slow, plodding and looks lazy and uninterested. As for being under appreciated or having a career of misfortune, whether in form or not he gets selected, for many fans he is overappreciated by the selectors and much more fortunate than many other players who are given a game or two to prove themselves before being discarded. Watson will never be remembered as a star, he will be remembered as being selected on potential for his entire career.
Monday's Expert
Guest
"There is a certain misfortune about Watson’s career" - some would say the exact opposite.
VL98
Guest
News Falsh: Clarke,lehmann&marsh took the decision of dropping watson in Afganisthan clash. Just saw Mark Waugh saying this. When waugh came on board for srilanka clash, he picked watson. Here's the video http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/cricket/cricket-world-cup-aussies-playing-confusing-game-with-shane-watson-and-mitchell-marsh/story-fnq1ugvm-1227255615707 One can also see clarke doubting watson's inclusion in press-conference after srilanka clash by telling the reporter that "why watson was included again?" was a good question. I want to thank Mark waugh from the bottom of my heart for trusting his ability. Team Watto.
VL98
Guest
Read this if anyone is interested http://www.firstpost.com/sports/whipping-boy-to-miracle-resurrection-guess-what-shane-watsons-back-2142573.html but do not read the comments, i just made copy-paste from there to here
VL98
Guest
Thanks for writing this. Apart from the records you mentioned, you missed a few more. His strike rate of 151 as a opener in T20s is also a record for players who played atleast 30 matches. Won most awards for Australian "Player of the year" than anyone else, Highest ODI score in a run-chase, Holds all top 3 spots in the list of ODI highest scores by Australian batsmen in a run-chase. Correction: Player of the tournament IPL in 2008 & 2013(not 2012). He missed 2009 season due to injury. He is a huge huge star in the subcontinent(India, srilanka, pakistan, bangladesh). He has not done any ads there, still he has been the highest paid non-indian cricketer in the word since 2011 for 4 years now. He has the most number of fanpages in facebook(200 plus). Only Gayle has those many. In comparison, Players like warner, clarke has around 45plus fan pages. My point is.. he is a huge star with a huge fanbase across the world(but not in Australia). He will win their hearts too in near future. I hope. In this modern era, he is the only one(atleast i think) who has orthodox batting style with massive power. I love that combination. It gives immense pleasure watching him hitting boundaries than watching unorthodox batsman hitting. There is some magnetic attraction about him. Thats why, even though he failed to fulfill his potential for close to 2 years, he never lost his fanbase. He performed greatly in sub-continent. IPL & World T20 2012 are examples. Although majority of Aussies were happy when he got dropped, his fans from subcontinent criticized the selectors heavily. I think, Thats the main reason why he got selected for srilanka. If you see 5 pro-comments on cricinfo, it means 100s made pro-watto comments, but cricinfo doesn't publish it. Its anti-watto website. Cricinfo writer Daniel bretting wrote countless anti-watto articles till today. Some day, watto will win his heart too.