Shane Watson got out twice leg-before-wicket at Cardiff. No surprise, I hear you say, as throughout his career he has been dismissed in that fashion on average 30 per cent of the time.
When you dissect his career further the stats look even more problematic for the remainder of this series.
His twin lbw dismissals in the opening Test took his dismissal ratio by that means in England to a ridiculous 59 per cent. That’s right, in his 17 Test innings in England – all of which have ended in dismissal – he has been trapped in front 10 times.
Of his other dismissals, all seven have been caught, two of them by the ‘keeper. Each time his leg-before dismissal has come while facing a right-arm pace bowler.
Yes, you guessed it, the current England pace bowling barrage is made up of three right-arm quicks – James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Mark Wood. Make it four when you throw in all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Broad has dismissed Watson leg-before four times and Anderson once. Wood joined the list in the second innings at Cardiff.
Put simply, if you wanted to make a film about Watson’s batting in England you would get Bill Murray to play his part and title it “Groundhog Day”. Of all the venues in the world, Watson’s technique is least favoured in English conditions against English bowlers.
His modus operandi of plonking his left foot straight down the pitch is manna from heaven for the England quicks, who make merry at his expense with variations of swing and cut.
Australian bowling coach Craig McDermott intimated on the eve of the first Test that Watson would get the nod for the all-rounder sport ahead of Mitch Marsh. McDermott’s theory was: “With the fourth seamer only bowling 10-15 overs tops, depending on how they’re bowling and how the other guys are going, his control is excellent.”
“He’s a lot more experienced and has been around for a long time so you’d expect his control and everything else to be better.”
Oddly, while Australia were bleeding runs in the first innings at Cardiff, Watson sent down just eight overs for figures of 0-24. His run per over rate of 3.0 was the best of the Australians in an innings where England rollicked along at a rate of 4.2 for the innings.
The other pace bowlers fared considerably worse – Mitchell Starc 4.7, Mitchell Johnson 4.4 and Josh Hazlewood 3.6. In the second innings, where England again scored freely (4.1), Watson sent down just five of the 70 overs.
For a man selected as an all-rounder at number six, in the order a total of 13 overs in a team match tally of 172 does not add up. This is especially the case when the bowling coach alluded to the fact that his strength was his ability to bowl accurately and slow the run rate and in normal circumstances would be expected to bowl 20-30 overs.
Given the way the runs flowed it could be said that the circumstances weren’t the norm that Michael Clarke and coach Darren Lehmann were looking for.
With Clarke loathe to use Watson more liberally at the bowling crease for whatever reason, and with his batting technique so clearly flawed in English conditions, the time has come to replace him with Marsh.
And it needs to happen for Lord’s.
Jimbob
Guest
The difference is Watson's time came years ago. Haddin was a hero for Australia many times, and is entitled to a little bit of latitude. Watson is a 10 year long joke. Haddin should get at least one more test, if only so he doesn't suffer the indignity of leaving at the same time as that pretender Watson.
dan in Devon
Guest
I was initially in favour of dropping Watson but I have changed my mind and think in the long term interest of Marsh that he should not be picked for the upcoming test. I am belive at Lords we will see more of Watson's bowling which was very effective in stemming the run-rat during the last Ashes series. There was one dismissal that suggested to me that England were better served by the pitch then Australia - and that was the dismissal of Bell. The slowness of the pitch enabled England to play to a premeditated plan when facing Johnson and Starc; a quicker pitch will bring them undone in this respect.
Jimbob
Guest
He has sculpted his body for appearance - nothing else. Too much time in the gym and not enough in the nets. The selectors only pick im because they all have a huge man-crush on his rock-hard manly physique. All you blokes on here love him too - you are just too embarrassed to say it.
Alex
Guest
Glenn, love your work. What do you think about Michael Clarke's comments in the post match conference about the 'boys playing their natural game'. Do you agree with what I outlined earlier in the comments that it appears to be an excuse for playing unintelligent cricket and not putting a price on your wicket. At least not to the level that South African middle order batsmen have been able to in the past e.g. Faf du plessis and Jacques Rudolph? Surely it shouldn't be impossible for the best 11 cricketers in the country to bat for a day, they didn't even make it to the second new ball.
Alex
Guest
The selectors and Lehmann, explicitly stated they want people to bowl 140+ Obviously these blanket policies are utterly stupid and quite ridiculous.
Dan in Devon
Guest
No déjà vu - the bowling is much stronger. Johnson was not at his best but he will appreciate the extra bounce at Lords. The batsmen need to take a look at NZ. Just because one falls we shouldn't stop applying the pleasure to the bowlers. There needs to be more cohesion. I thought Watson batted reasonably well in the second innings and is not far off a big knock. But personally I prefer Marsh. I think he is the future. Is there any harm in waiting one test before throwing him to the dogs.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Those downfall parodies never fail to make me laugh.
TheCunningLinguistic
Guest
:-) Very good!
Aransan
Guest
135, isn't that what Anderson and Broad bowl? How boring!
Rob JM
Guest
We are not blaming Watto for the loss, we are blaming him for taking the spot of someone who could win us games. Lehman famously stood aside to allow Michael Clarke a position in the team. Watto just squats in someone rightful place!
Rob JM
Guest
You missed the " (sarc)" bro!
Glenn Mitchell
Expert
World's Biggest, I commented on Haddin in my column here on 'The Roar' on the eve of the Cardiff Test: "Brad Haddin is first choice for wicketkeeper despite his modest returns of late with the bat. He has passed 50 only once in his past 19 Test innings, during which time he has averaged a paltry 15.3. The reserve keeper, Peter Nevill, is a well-credentialed performer with a batting average of 44.3 through his 55 match first-class career. He is a smooth operator behind the stumps and showed with his innings of 78 against Essex that he is in decent form with the blade. Should Haddin continue to struggle, and particularly if Australia falls behind in the series, Nevill could well find himself in the baggy green on this tour."
Indian Aussie supporter
Guest
Yes peter neviel is in the squad
Paul Brock
Guest
I think it's more a case of Watson's batting looking prettier than Hughes' than of being mates with the selectors. Hughes was unorthodox and got out in ugly fashion a couple of times and was shown the door despite averaging 50+ at the time. Watson looks good at the crease and this has bought him multiple chances that would not have been afforded to someone who's batting was less conventional.
Broken-hearted toy
Guest
His move to six hasn't been a case of perform or be dropped. He's had nine matches there. That's a lot for someone to not perform and not be dropped. I don't blame Watson I blame the selectors and to some extent the skipper and coach.
James
Guest
http://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/2015-07/13/1/enhanced/webdr12/enhanced-23205-1436765546-5.png from http://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/meme-before-wicket#.pkdlr5YYX pictures all about watson the german video is one fo the best of those i have seen. especially the mitch marsh part, i thought of all of you on here.
Lancey5times
Guest
Let's assume Watson's number is up and he is deemed not up to test standard. Coupled with Starc's injury and Cummins being massively underdone, geez our squad looks light all of a sudden
Broken-hearted toy
Guest
Yes, that kind of talk does them no favours. It just covers up any need to really look at what they did. Does playing your natural game preclude putting a price on your wicket or taking into account the state of the match or conditions of wicket? It certainly seems to for our guys.
VivGilchrist
Guest
Somehow I feel like Haddin seems to be dodging bullets. What has he averaged in his last 12 Tests?
Broken-hearted toy
Guest
There never has been. The sports shrinks haven't worked any magic with him at all.