There is no room for Shane Watson in the Australian Test cricket team.
Let’s make one thing clear. Watson is a great cricketer who has enjoyed almost a decade as Australia’s number one all-rounder. However, there comes a time when the selectors need to sit down and accept that maybe his days in the baggy green are over.
Whether it’s batting in the top, middle or lower order, Watson’s form in recent years has diminished with each chop and change to accommodate him. It’s clear that the 34-year-old is no longer one of the best six batsmen in the country.
In the past 18 months Watson has scored 391 runs with two fifties @27.93. Of course there are intangibles that the everyday critic does not consider when judging his performances. Leadership, ‘presence’, and experience are an important cog in any successful team, but with these numbers, Watson should consider himself lucky to be on the Ashes tour.
Then there’s his bowling. It’s been well documented that national coach Darren Lehmann needs Watson to bowl if he is to be considered for a spot in the Test team. But when he’s match-fit, how much bowling has the right-arm medium pacer actually done?
Since January, 2014 Watson has bowled 121.4 overs in eight matches with seven wickets @45.57. That’s just over seven overs and less than half a wicket per innings. It’s simply not good enough for an all-rounder who has been selected with the expectation that he will contribute with both bat and ball.
Does Watson’s replacement need to be an all-rounder?
According to the national selection panel and coach Darren Lehmann, this is a must. All-rounders have become common place in the modern game, but I question whether Australia really needs one. The evidence speaks for itself. Australian captain Michael Clarke and stand-in Steven Smith have barely used Watson for his bowling over the last few years.
Surely Dave Warner, Clarke and Smith can squeeze out seven overs per innings between them?
Mitchell Marsh has been earmarked as Watson’s long term heir. Back-to-back hundreds in his last tour matches including an unbeaten 136* against Essex overnight, makes him the most likely to replace the incumbent Watson for the first Test should selectors look elsewhere.
The 23 year-old has played four Tests and averages 37.42 with the bat, including an impressive 87 against Pakistan last Winter. His bowling performances to date are less than glowing and could be the factor that holds him back.
Marsh has taken just the one wicket @164.00 from 61 overs in his brief Test career. A first-class average of 30.15 batting and 29.37 bowling suggests that he’s not the answer at number 6 for Australia nor an ideal bowling option at this stage. Yet, his tour performances indicate the WA prodigy may be ready to cement his place at Test level.
How do you put six batsmen into five positions? You drop the all-rounder and play them all.
Shaun Marsh is finally fulfilling his potential, opening the batting in last month’s tour of the West Indies and scoring a solid 69 as Australia cruised to victory.
He returned to the fold for the second Test against India last summer and made three 50s @40.00. Adam Voges sings a similar tune to veteran opener Chris Rogers. The 35 year-old is in the twilight of his career and only seems to be improving.
A first class career of 11,001 runs and counting, including 26 hundreds and eight fifties should have seen him selected years ago. He’s certainly making the most of his opportunities though, capping off a stellar domestic season with his Test debut in the West Indies that included an unbeaten 130* in his first ever knock.
Regardless of what has been said around the traps, Chris Rogers will open the batting with David Warner. Steven Smith and skipper Michael Clarke will bat at 3 and 4 respectively.
I’d like to see Shaun Marsh at 5 and Adam Voges at 6, meaning Watson or Mitchell Marsh would have to sit this one out. Considering that Clarke has rarely used his all-rounders as bowlers in the past two years, you’d be crazy to leave Adam Voges out of the side and even crazier to select Mitchell Marsh ahead of his older brother Shaun, as a batsman.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Big-hitter Jake Fraser-McGurk will go to the Twenty20 World Cup as a reserve batsman for the Australia squad. Fraser-McGurk's eye-catching IPL scoring has been…
The laws state that a striker is only allowed to play a ball if some part of their bat or person remains within the…
Probably the most popular Aussie in Wales, Marnus Labuschagne rarely lets down the fans at his Glamorgan "second home". The Test batting maestro was…
RCB were initially questioned after bringing Maxi on with the new rock. It worked a treat as he dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad first ball.
Faf du Plessis took one of the catches of the tournament as Royal Challengers Bengaluru qualified for the IPL playoffs with a 27-run win.…
Jonny Bairstow wants to never mention it again and Alex Carey got sick of hearing about it but the firestorm surrounding their dramatic incident…
