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Related Links
Players/Officials:
Shane Watson
Matches:
India v Australia at Chennai
Series/Tournaments:
Australia tour of India
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If Shane Watson's
commitment to playing as a batsman only on this tour was ever going to
be tested, standing in the field for 154.3 overs during India's the
first innings in Chennai was the time. As the runs piled up for India
and Australia's attack struggled for impact they missed Watson's
bowling, and Watson missed being part of it. But he said while the
possibility of bowling later on the tour had crossed his mind, he knew
that for the sake of his fitness and form, he had to stick to his plan.
Over the past few years in Test cricket, Watson has had a happy knack of
breaking partnerships and an unhappy habit of breaking down. His most
recent injury, the problem with his left calf that ruled him out of the
third Test against Sri Lanka in January and the one-day series that
followed, prompted him to declare that he would give up bowling for the
Test tour of India to concentrate on his batting, and on stringing
together as much cricket as he could.
Having missed the whole of the previous Australian Test summer due to
calf and hamstring injuries, and then the Brisbane and Adelaide Tests
against South Africa, Watson decided his best option was to temporarily
give up bowling. As India's batsmen put on a series of frustrating
partnerships in Chennai, Watson was itching to take the ball and he said
the experience had confirmed in his mind that giving up bowling would
not be a permanent move.
"That was a time that reaffirmed to me that I do want to bowl," Watson
said. "That was a time where if I hadn't have made the decision not to
bowl for this tour that I could have had some input on the game at a
crucial time in the match. That to me was the first time over the last
month since I came back that I missed bowling.
"The decision I made is more a longer-term decision to get some running
and conditioning into my legs, so when I start bowling again, my body
has more chance of handling it. I do appreciate the decision but it
certainly reaffirmed to me that I'm never going to give up bowling. It
excites me having some input on the game, especially when what I do
could have an influence on a certain part of the game."
For the time being, Watson's plan is to resume bowling during the second
half of the IPL with the ultimate goal of being able to contribute with
the ball during Australia's Ashes tour of England in July and August.
He said while the thought of bowling at some point on the Indian tour
was tempting - he has taken 12 wickets at 33.41 in his past six Tests in
the country - he was resigned to the fact that his existing plan was a
better long-term idea.
"That thought has gone through my mind a few times but I suppose we do
have to stay on course," Watson said. "There were reasons why I made
that decision - to try and get my body conditioned enough to get back
into my bowling.
"I know I've needed two or three months just to be able to get some
conditioning into my body, to then hopefully hold together for the next
period of time once I get back bowling again. There is a big reason why
I'm not bowling at the moment - in between the Test matches to get some
running into my legs to continue to build that resilience, so I can
hopefully just stay together."
In committing to his long-term plan to stay on the field, Watson took
advice from Cricket Australia's medical staff as well as his personal
physio, Viktor Popov, and it was made after discussing the idea with the
captain Michael Clarke. The bowling issue came to a head after the Hobart Test
against Sri Lanka, when Watson bowled 47.4 overs, easily the most he
had ever sent down in a game, and he struggled with his calf in the next
Test.
"I took a lot of information in at the time, especially through the
summer having the same calf injury again and also the amount I bowled in
Hobart, that was the most I've ever bowled in my career in four or
five-day cricket," Watson said. "I knew my body could handle it, it was
more so backing up to handle it again. I had to get the right
conditioning in my legs, things like running technique, doing all those
things to give myself a better chance to hold together my body when I'm
bowling.
"But I also need to be more careful in the future about the overs I do
bowl. One, I have the chance to do it more consistently and have less
chance of injury but also there were times when it affected my batting,
more so in Test cricket over the last 12 to 18 months, especially when I
was opening. There were a number of reasons why I made that decision,
most importantly is trying to score some runs in Test cricket as well."
To that end, Watson has been working in the nets on his footwork, with
the intention of being able to come down the pitch to India's spinners
rather than simply playing back as he has on previous tours of India. He
made 84 and 60 during the warm-up match against India A and showed
encouraging glimpses in the first Test but was unable to build a big
score, falling for 28 in the first innings and 17 in the second.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
Feeds: Brydon Coverdale
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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