By Jarrod Kimber
Shane Watson is desperate to be an allrounder who bats in the middle order and dominates like Freddie Flintoff. Then he wants to open the batting and still bowl his full overs. Then he’s happy to move down the order to three, as it puts less stress on him. Then he’s content to bat at four, and that it will help him bowl more overs. Now he’ll bat anywhere, but probably gets that his body won’t let him bowl.
That is Shane Watson.
But that is also the Australian selectors. Shane Watson is the biggest headache and most confusing question the selectors have at the moment. Before the Adelaide Test there was more than enough noise that they couldn’t play Watson just as a batsman, and now Watson is just a batsman, they have to work out where to get the best out of him, if they want him at all. Today Mickey Arthur has suggested he may have to go back to opening.
Watson is pure throbbing talent. Large, powerful, deadly and mean. He picked up attacks at the World T20 and shook them down. In the IPL he looks better than entire franchises. In ODIs he’s a consistent wrecking ball.
But in Test cricket he’s an LBW candidate who gets bogged down and doesn’t make hundreds.
In Test cricket he’s mostly myths.
Watson the opening aggressor
One of the most common incorrect thoughts in cricket is that Shane Watson is an attacking opener. It’s simply not true. Sure, for a couple of overs, on the odd occasion, he will slash outside off stump and muscle some pulls, but once he gets to 20 or 30, he stops. And when Watson stops in Test cricket, he’s cadaverous.
Virender Sehwag’s opening strike-rate is 82.
Tillakaratne Dilshan’s opening strike-rate is 71.
Graeme Smith’s opening strike-rate is 59.
Simon Katich’s opening strike-rate is 49.
Alastair Cook’s opening strike-rate is 47.
Ed Cowan’s opening strike-rate is 43.
Watson’s is 52. That means that in terms of quick-scoring opening batsmen, Watson is marginally closer to Smith than he is to Cowan. And Dilshan and Sehwag are distant dreams.
Watson is a plodding opening batsman who can hit powerful boundaries. More Jason Arnberger than Matthew Hayden.
By Jarrod Kimber for ESPNcricinfo.
