Australia captain pours cold water on suggestion all-rounder could be put on ice until looming World Twenty20 tournament
While Shane Watson remains at long odds to return to Australia's winning line-up for the second Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth, captain Michael Clarke poured scorn on suggestions it might be prudent to keep the all-rounder in cotton wool for the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup.
Watson, who missed last week's opening match of the three-Test series with a calf injury, batted freely in the nets at St George's Park yesterday during Australia's main training session before play begins on Thursday.
But when he was first ruled out of the opening Test, team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris indicated that to be any chance of being fit for the second Watson would need to be running and have shown that he was fit to bowl three days before the match began.
That window would now appear to have closed, as the 32-year-old did not bowl during the lengthy session yesterday and was seen to be running at no more than half pace under the scrutiny of team medical staff as training wound down.
Certainly Clarke, who indicated that he was yet to receive a final team for the match from the national selection panel but did not expect it to contain "too many changes", did not seen anything in Watson's preparation to suggest the former vice-captain had made a stunning recovery.
"I didn't see 'Watto' do much running (on Tuesday) at all," Clarke said when asked if he was aware if Watson was in the mix for a return to the team that won emphatically by 281 runs in the first Test at Centurion.
"The information I have from the selectors is if he's not bowling he'll be unavailable for selection."
But the captain was unequivocal when asked if, given the way the team and especially the two new players drafted into the line-up from the Australian summer's Ashes whitewash – Alex Doolan and Shaun Marsh – had performed, Watson might be better rested to ensure he's fit for the T20 World Cup.
Asked if thought had been given, in light of Watson's extensive history of soft tissue injuries, to sidelining him from the entire three-Test series against South Africa to ensure he's fit and ready to bat and bowl in the World Cup, Clarke was quickly on the front foot.
In doing so, he drew a firm line of demarcation between what he sees as competing priorities in the various forms of international cricket and also stated his support for Watson as a vital part of Australia's Test cricket set-up for the immediate future.
"No chance," he said emphatically of suggestions Watson might be nursed through the Test series. "Not while I'm captain of this team.
"There's no greater priority than playing a Test match for your country."
That biennial tournament, which Australia has never won, will be played in Bangladesh beginning immediately after Australia's tour of South Africa has been completed and Watson is seen as a key member of his country's 15-man squad.
"The Twenty20 World Cup is a major tournament and is important, and I know all the Twenty20 boys will be keen to have success over there, but right now we're playing a Test series – that's our focus," Clarke said.
"As soon as Watto is fit and available I know he'll want to be back out on the park.
"I don't know if you guys (media) watched him in the nets but he's creaming them at the moment.
"He's a huge player for us, so the sooner we can have Watto back I think the better for this team."
However, Clarke was not quite so forthcoming when asked how Watson – even if he was fully fit – would fit back into a team that performed so well without him and given the all-rounder has played just two one-day internationals in the past month in which he took a solitary wicket and made two ducks.
While Watson was an integral part of Australia's five-nil Ashes triumph, batting at No.3 and scoring heavily in the second innings in Perth and Melbourne, he bowled very few overs and it would seem that the role of fourth seamer now rests with part-time medium pacer David Warner.
Clarke yesterday conceded Warner was nothing more than an occasional bowler, in much the same way that Michael Hussey would send down a few overs to give the frontline bowlers a break in years past.
And he added that the flexibility that Watson brought to the team, as a top-order batsman who can play both a containment and wicket-taking role with the ball, was an attractive option at Test level.
"Any time you've got a class all-rounder available you've got to try and find some room," Clarke said.
"Fortunately I'm not a selector so I won't have to make that call.
"But it's a fair question – the two guys that came in, 'Dools' (Doolan] and Shaun (Marsh) couldn't have performed any better.
"They were outstanding. They've grabbed their opportunity with both hands."
While the Australians are again expected to wait until the coin toss at St George's Park on Thursday before finalising their starting XI, Clarke claimed to have foreseen the change the home team is likely to make now that all-rounder Ryan McLaren has been ruled out with mild concussion.
Clarke expressed his concern and sent his best wishes to McLaren who was felled by a fearsome blow above the right ear when he ducked into a Mitchell Johnson short ball while batting on the final day of the first Test at Centurion.
But he said he didn't expect the South Africans to replace him with fellow all-rounder Wayne Parnell and instead believed they were likely – given the greenish appearance of the Port Elizabeth – top opt for an extra batsman instead.
Which would mean that Dean Elgar, the additional specialist batsman in the Proteas' squad who made an inauspicious Test debut against Australia in Perth in 2012 when he scored a pair, would come into the team and bat at No7.
"I think they will pick an extra batsman," said Clarke, who took great delight in nominating the likely England XI in days leading into the Ashes series in Australia, with varying degrees of success.
"I think if the wicket stays like it is today (Tuesday) it will be a three-dayer (match completed inside three days) with two fantastic bowling attacks.
"Generally this wicket does do a bit, and I think South Africa will go with an extra batter and back their three quicks (Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel) and a spinner (Robin Peterson)."
The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Cricket Australia
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