Shane Watson
is an increasingly doubtful starter for the second Test in Adelaide
after the team performance manager Pat Howard stated he would be surplus
to Australia's requirements against South Africa unless he can prove
himself fit enough to bowl.
In the most blunt declaration yet that Watson needs to retain his
allrounder status in order to remain an integral part of Australia's
planning, Howard stated that John Inverarity's selection panel had
placed great store in the ability of batsmen to bowl, particularly when
faced with a batting line-up as deep as South Africa's.
The selectors are currently discussing the composition of their squad
for the Adelaide Test ahead of a likely announcement on Friday, and
Watson cannot be expected to be considered unless he proves himself
capable of bowling plenty of overs in the second match of the series.
Watson is understood to be thinking conservatively about returning to
the bowling crease, making the Perth Test or even the Sri Lanka series
that follows the South Africa Tests more likely avenues for his
international return.
"Shane is progressing, if the Test match was tomorrow he wouldn't be
playing, but he's progressing and I think when the team goes in on
Sunday we'll have a far better indication of where he's at," Howard said
in Brisbane.
"For different series there are different policies, there's a position
the selection panel take. There are times over the past 12 months where
he has been considered in both roles and sometimes as a batsman only,
but very much at Adelaide they're looking to his bowling and his fitness
around bowling, to see if he's capable of doing both.
"As you saw during the Test match the other day, a fair few bowlers were
called on, and Shane's value to be able to do both is pretty strong. It
would go against him significantly [if he can't bowl]."
In seeking to assess Watson's fitness, Cricket Australia had considered
making him available to play for New South Wales in a domestic limited
overs match against Victoria at North Sydney Oval on Sunday, but that
possibility now appears remote. Instead Watson will need to show his
ability to bowl in the nets, before following up with further training
spells in Adelaide.
"The value and the balance of the team is what the selection panel talk
about, it's the panel's call on how they come together on this," Howard
said. "They assess all of that, the value of it, I know John Inverarity
looks very much at what is our ability to bowl lots and lots of overs.
"We were in a pretty unique position the other day when Rob Quiney
bowled for us and doesn't bowl for Victoria, so the ability for people
to take up some bowling slack credibly is important. Without making it a
Shane Watson conversation, the ability to take overs up was pretty well
demonstrated in the first Test."
Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood can again be expected to be part of
the team in Adelaide, even if the selectors choose not to change the
bowling line-up that looked far more threatening in the second innings
of the Brisbane Test than the first. Starc and Hazlewood are currently
bowling for NSW against the Bushrangers in a Sheffield Shield fixture at
the SCG.
"We had a fair few bowlers around the squad in the lead-up to the Test,"
Howard said. "Josh Hazlewood was there as well as Mitchell, so we're
very much making sure guys are ingrained in the squad. We did that all
last year, so we want that extra bowler around to get involved in the
culture, and to make sure they're ready to do the job required."
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