In praise of... Shane Watson

He was once the golden boy of Australian cricket, the blonde all rounder who hit the ball hard and bowled like the wind, Andrew Flintoff with a regular appointment at a hair salon. He had an exciting, touted by Steve Waugh as having the potential to be Australia’s first true all rounder since Keith Miller and Alan Davidson.

Then it all went wrong: stress fractures to his back stopped him from bowling fast and his place in the 2003 World Cup went to Andrew Symonds, who made the most of his opportunity. Although he returned to the one day side in 2004 and made his test debut in 2005 the golden boy was in danger of becoming the nearly man.

This started to change in 2006 when, at the instigation of Jamie Cox, the selectors, and Watson himself, stopped thinking of him as a bowling all rounder and rather as a batsman who might contribute some useful overs. He was promoted to open the batting in the one day side with considerable success but remained a peripheral figure on test tours, not deemed to be a good enough batsman to break into an impressive top order simply because he offered another bowling option.

The twist, and it was a surprising one, came at Edgbaston last year. The much heralded Phillip Hughes had had his technique worked over by England’s bowlers and was being made the scapegoat for the defeat at Lord’s so it was no great surprise when he was left out in Birmingham, but the identity of his replacement, who had barely scored a first class run at the top of the innings, was a massive surprise. Out of the wilderness, into an unfamiliar role, came Shane Watson.

Most anticipated failure, but he batted well in the series without ever going on to make a really significant score, and he has kept his place at the top of the Australian order ever since. His bowling, too, was ridiculed in England but he has worked hard to make the most of his medium pace and his performances against Pakistan spoke of a new maturity. In the carnage of Adelaide and the second innings at Brisbane he was also Australia’s most economical bowler, and is a useful fifth member of the attack.

All is not perfect, however. His conversion rate is short of what is required for an opening batsman and he tends to play rather hard at the ball. He is firm footed when the ball is swinging as well, meaning that he has been out bowled and LBW more than would be desirable, but he deserves credit for taking the chance when it was presented to him. The question for Australia is no longer whether or not he should be in the side but where he can serve them best, for there is a suspicion that, although he has done a good job as an opener, he is better suited to the middle order. For the time being, however, and especially with Simon Katich injured, the likelihood is that he will remain there for the foreseeable future.