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That Shane Watson was talented enough to play an innings like this was never in doubt. That he ever would
in a Test match was questionable. That he now has in an Ashes battle is
encouraging. That he has done so in a dead rubber is frustrating.
Talented, questionable, encouraging, frustrating. That is how Watson is,
was and, perhaps, ever shall be.
Watson's 176 at The Oval was at once meaningless and consequential. It
held no value for Australia's hopes of regaining the urn, which
disappeared in the Manchester rain, nor of levelling the series, which
fizzled out on a crazy fourth day in Chester-le-Street. But if his
innings sets up an Australia victory, it will instil belief in a team
lacking it.
Ultimately, Watson will be judged not by this innings but by whether he
follows it with important runs in the home Ashes later this year.
Barring injury, he will surely begin that series at No. 3, for he is the
man responsible for ending Australia's longest ever drought of Test
innings without a hundred from first drop.
That he was No.3 at The Oval was an accident, not a masterstroke. First
drop through most of last year, No. 4 in India, an opener at the start
of this trip, briefly No. 6 in the last Test, at times a batsman only,
at others a first-change bowler, Michael Clarke's deputy for two years,
Australia's 44th Test captain. He looked like ending this series as the
team's minister without portfolio.
Certainly he remains a senior player in the side. On Monday, while the
rest of the squad trained at The Oval, coach Darren Lehmann and selector
on duty Rod Marsh gathered their leadership group together for a
half-hour meeting. Clarke was there with his new deputy Brad Haddin, so
were Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle, the leaders of the attack. So was
Watson.
"It was more or less about us standing up as senior players and leading
from the front," Clarke said of the meeting. "It was a reminder that we
continue on and off the field to lead the way. It is more important when
things aren't going to plan."
Standing up has not been Watson's strength in the past couple of years. The man who made back-to-back hundreds in the semi-final and final
of the 2009 Champions Trophy, the man who was Player of the Tournament
at last year's World Twenty20 couldn't score big at Test level. In the
past two years he had averaged 24.79, always batting in the top six.
Watson's previous Test century was so long ago - Mohali
in 2010 - that Clarke was the only team-mate from that match also
playing at The Oval. Simon Katich was excommunicated. Ricky Ponting and
Michael Hussey have retired. Marcus North fell off the radar. Mitchell
Johnson has slid from view. Tim Paine, filling in there for Haddin,
seems forgotten. Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger have
been dropped.
Watson remained. Of course, Watson offered an important bowling option
that made him a curious case; a top six batsman not pulling his weight
with the bat but easing the team's burden with the ball. There were
useful fifties, innings that teased, but little substance. Clarke made
187 at Old Trafford, Haddin is on the verge of a series wicketkeeping
record, Harris and Siddle have both bowled well.
More than any of the other senior men, Watson knew this was a time he
had to stand up. Dead rubber or not. It helped that England picked Chris
Woakes and Simon Kerrigan. Both debutants were nervous, both suffered
at the hands of Watson. Watson had clubbed Kerrigan in the tour match in Northampton on Saturday and did here again.
"I was expecting Tremlett to play," Watson said after play. "I'm a bit
happier not having to face a guy about six-eight bowling balls that are
bouncing up into your splice all the time."
England helped Watson, but Watson helped himself. Over the past
fortnight he worked on his lbw problem in the nets, with Clarke yelling
instructions as the batting coach Michael di Venuto gave throwdowns.
Here, he played well against James Anderson and Stuart Broad. It was his day; he even successfully reviewed an lbw decision. It was also the 19th day in a now dead series.
"I'd give anything to have been able to score runs at the start of the
series," he said. "It's only consolation more than anything, because the
most important time is in the first three Test matches and I wasn't
able to do that ... I've certainly been asking myself a lot of different
questions over the last five Test matches about where I'm at with my
cricket. It's nice that I've been able to put it together but it's not
so nice that it's taken so long."
For Watson as much as anyone, it was an encouraging, yet frustrating innings.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
Feeds: Brydon Coverdale
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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