Watson’s presence, and not his role, is elementary for Australia

 Reuters/Sydney

The injury-prone 31-year-old missed much of the domestic season with a calf problem but looked back to his aggressive best as he blasted 122 runs off 111 balls to help Australia clinch the one-day series against West Indies.

Whether it be as specialist opener, top order batsman or all-rounder, a fit and firing Watson will be a major asset for Australia’s Test team as they embark on a tough trip to India followed by back-to-back Ashes series this year.

“I was starting to worry that I didn’t have enough form so it was nice to spend some time in the middle,” Watson said after the 39-run victory in Canberra. 

“When you don’t play for a while, you think you’ve lost it, so it’s nice to feel you’ve still got it.”

With 8,000 runs in all three forms of the game at international level, Watson has clearly “got it”. What remains to be seen is what use Australia make of him.

The injury problems that have bedevilled him throughout his career have brought what he hopes will be a temporary end to his bowling and on Wednesday, he was restricted to a role as a batsman.

The bare statistics tell that his right arm medium pace bowling has taken 62 wickets in 38 Tests at an average of 30.06 but what they do not show is how important those wickets were in the context of the match.

Captain Michael Clarke knows that very well and he is extremely keen to be once again in a position where he can toss the burly blond the ball when a breakthrough is required.

“I think everybody including Shane is hoping that if he comes back and gets into his batting... he can slowly get back into his bowling as well,” Clarke said at the Allan Border Medal ceremony on Monday. 

Clarke went on to say that Watson’s chances of a place in the team would be improved by having the all-rounder tag attached to his name. 

Ashes Threat

“The pool of batsmen is a much bigger pool than the pool of all-rounders in Australian cricket at the moment. But Shane knows if he’s at his best, he’s as good as any player in the world let alone the Australian team,” Clarke said of the  Australian Cricketer of the Year.  “Our goal as a team is to help Watto get back to his best.

Hopefully that’s batting and bowling in time...”

Watson has given up all hopes of contributing with the ball in India but is hoping he will be able to supplement the bowling attack by the time Australia get to England for the first Ashes series. “I know that’s looking a long way forward, but just even physically to give myself a chance to be able to get to that is a dream for me at the moment,” he said recently.