Drop Shane Watson for the World Cup final

I wouldn't have had Watson anywhere near the team but the selectors made it impossible not to play him. With Bailey and Marsh not getting any game time, no way could either be included. Watson was always going to play the final regardless of his form. Hopefully, Watson should now retire from international cricket.

Watson is and will always be the genuine allrounder of all format of the game. There's no chance in hell marsh is better than watson. Watson should open the innings where he plays the best. Either way, best of luck watson.

Agree. But, No.6 is not middle order, its too low. Thats a spot which watson can never do justice. Why? He just doesn't have the skills of a finisher. Must be in top 4.

I agree with the writer, Watson is out of form with the bat, took an age to get going, doesn't take quick singles and rotate the strike and took an age to get down to that catch in slips. If we win the world cup it will be despite carrying Watson

VL98, I am one of the biggest Watson fans but his days at the top of the order are behind him now. I agree that his numbers at the top are great but those numbers where collected prior to the introduction of a ball at either end. This means that watto now needs to face twice as many balls against a new ball which places his technique under to much pressure. He is now perfectly suited to the middle order. He can come in a belt the ball around without the worry of seeing off the new ball

You mistake faster for better. Watson is a greatly underrated bowler and definitely more reliable than Marsh with ball in hand in a big moment. The Aussie selectors do have a clue. If I was to make one change it would be Bailey in for Clarke, but that's not going to happen.

You know Matt, When I was a young fella, circa early 70s, in my early teens, in my ignorance of youth I could not understand how us fit, athletic, naturally bronzed & brilliant Aussies struggled to beat those older, overweight, slow, roly poly Poms. As I got older & wiser, I realised that it's not natural physical attributes that make the difference, but experience. It's what is between the ears. There was a time when the English county system was good for England, producing cricketers who progressed to test level learning every deviate trick there was in the book to negate a naturally gifted superior opponent. That's why apparently gifted, superior Aussie teams sometimes struggled to beat England. Now, how you interpret this advice I've given you in relation to Watson & Marsh, I will leave up to you.

Watson's ODI SR is 90.40 and Marsh's is 90.20. Watson's T20 SR is 143 and Marsh's is 140. That's also based on Watto playing 10 years longer than Mitch, I thought you were just writing the standard weekly Watto bashing article on roar but actually think you might be serious?

Marsh has a bright future ahead. He may be back in the team much sooner than you think. But he will be back in the place of another player. There is some politics in this which is very hard for you to understand. You see, to throw watson out, they needed to push him down the order which they did. It started from 2012. They managed to drop him down the order in ODIs too in 2013. Now, they have managed to put him much further down at 6. They managed to strip him of vice-captaincy too. You compare warner avg(34 at SR 89 from 61 ODIs) & finch avg average(37 at SR 87 from 48 ODIs) with watsons(45 at SR 92 from 93 ODIs) as a opener. He's miles ahead from both of them. Its not easy to throw him out. He will rise up the order & marsh will be back. Just wait & watch.

No. He didn't. That poor guy seriously thinks that marsh is better than watson. Marsh is better than many players in that team, but no way near the calibre of watson. Watson is king. Get that in your head, writer.

After the WC, he should bat in the top order which is where he belongs. I have said this a thousand times already. Watson is a powerful orthodox batsman. Like sachin, watson has a very orthodox batting style. They are only good in the top order. Only finishers like maxwell & faulkner can play the bottom order role. Orthodox batsman do not have the game to play the finishers role. Watson has played 100 ODIs in top order as an opener & has a record batting average(45) for an australian & very good strike rate too. Watson playing at 6 is a joke. He should bat as high as possible. Regarding his bowling, he can't handle the bowling workload anymore. Can bowl maximum 3 overs with efficiency. His hulk like physique always suited his batting & injured him while bowling. Regarding his selection, watson is the number 1 player picked in my team. I love watching a batsman with power and traditional batting style. Batting is at its best only that way.

Why change a winning side that is comfortable in what they need to do and doing it well. NZ would be licking their lips if any changes were to occur now..

He doesn't have the experience, he isn't a big game player, he hasn't won matches for Australia on his own performance and he still has a T20 mindframe. Watson has been there and done that.... more importantly, you don't change a winning team.