Give 'em hell, Watto...

 

Shane Watson is to open in the Ashes, says new coach Darren Lehmann.

I think I am facing some kind of existential crisis. First the Aussies took my advice and added Steve Smith to the Ashes squad. Now they've gone and done it again and announced Shane Watson will be opening the batting. Has The Cricket Hooligan become a kind of Holy Spirit that compels the hearts and minds of Cricket Australia officials? I wonder for what good or mischief I can use my extraordinary power? They now only need to give Phil Hughes the can for my holy work to be completed.

In any case, this is great news. Watson plays his best in the opening position, as I have expounded at length before. For "Danger Man" to be at his most effective in the Ashes, he must open. It's a relief to see Lehmann is taking these bold steps so quickly after being appointed.

Seize this opportunity, Watto. As you very well know, your career is on the line. You've just been given a lifeline to salvage it and cement your position in the team. Take it, and give 'em hell.

Are these the green shoots of recovery?

It looked like Australian cricket was at its lowest point in decades. Having barely missed out on pipping the #1 Test rank position against South Africa over the Summer, we went on to lose two of the last truly great Australian cricketers from the national side, suffer a 4-0 defeat against India amid shambolic management and disciplinary controversy, and were relegated to rank #4 in Test cricket. Then Shane Watson stood down from the vice-captaincy after poor showings and leadership in India. To top it all off, we've just emerged bottom of our group in the ICC Champions Trophy without a single win to our name.

An optimist would think "Surely things can't get any worse? Surely it can only get better from here, right?" It's beginning to look as though such an attitude could be justified. In the space of twenty-four hours, Cricket Australia has announced the addition of Steve Smith to the Ashes squad, the sacking of Micky Arthur as head coach and his replacement by Darren Lehmann, the standing-down of Michael Clarke as a selector, and - joy of joys - the end of the rotation policy.

Could it be that we are, finally, witnessing the green shoots of recovery? We should naturally hesitate from making any such Lamont-esque remarks, but it certainly seems so. One could be forgiven for thinking that the CA grandees had suddenly come to a miraculous epiphany and, by the work of God's grace, repented their sins and amended their ways.

That Steve Smith, The Cricket Hooligan's favourite up-and-coming young cricketer, has been added to the Ashes squad makes him wonder whether John Inverarity et al. read his humble e-rag. Certainly they had demonstrated an uncommon display of sense when it was announced they had appointed Smith as captain of the Australia A squad to tour Africa. It was a sign of things to come, I thought at the time; against a dearth of genuine talent of the calibre of the great Australian teams of old, Steve Smith stands out as a profoundly exciting prospect for the future of Australian cricket. It is most reassuring that Cricket Australia have finally caught on to this.

It is equally reassuring that Cricket Australia have had the sense to sack the man responsible for #homeworkgate and, not least, 4-0 against India. There have beens suggestions that Justin Langer could have been a better replacement, but I suppose Darren Lehmann is a good choice in any case - anyone would have been an improvement on Micky Arthur. Lehmann carried Queensland and Brisbane Heat to great success under his veteran stewardship, and the hope is that he will transfer his success in coaching of Queensland to the national squad. Perhaps there won't be enough time to salvage the Ashes in England, but the appointment of Boof is a positive step for the future.

I suppose Michael Clarke's standing down as a selector is for the best. I have always thought that, instead of the captain being a selector, he ought to have the final word on player selection decisions made by the National Selection Panel. But I suppose the choice really must be all or nothing: either the captain is the head selector, or the captain is not a selector at all; none of this awkward halfway house, please.

And so we come to the scrapping of the rotation policy. Virtually everyone except John Inverarity and Glenn Maxwell will be overjoyed to hear that the dreaded policy is to come to an end. We can be sure there won't be too many mourners at its funeral, nor too many tears shed as its expired corpse enters the crematory. Will we see a return to the culture of excellence and leadership that distinguished those great Australian teams under Border, Taylor, Waugh and Ponting? Will we see a strong, dependable and consistent Australian Test side without constant face-changes that dazzle and bewilder the fans? Will we see again the kind of strong team culture, distinctive of a tight-knit team at ease with itself and each other, that characterised the great Australian teams of the nineties and noughties? The latter we see today in the currently dominant teams, particularly in England and South Africa - testament to the fact that a strong team cannot necessarily just be built on the best players; a strong team culture, where the players know each other in and out, is essential for building great teams.

Are we seeing a recovery from the ashes (so to speak) in Australian cricket? There's every sign that we are, and I jolly well hope so.

This man is the future of Australian cricket

Steve Smith made 104 not out on the first day of the Australia A match against Ireland yesterday. His second hundred of the Australia A tour of the British Isles. The man keeps reinforcing my belief, not only that he deserves a regular place on the Australian Test squad, but that he could one day captain Australia. Twitter's Richie Benaud thinks so, too. While his Test average may not be great (32.30), remember he outperformed the whole Australian side in India apart from Michael Clarke, making an impressive 92 in the Third Test. In any case, his overall first-class average measures at 40.98 - not too bad.

If you ask me, he should have been in the Ashes squad, preferably in place of Phil Hughes. I'm hoping his performance in the Australia A tour may single him out for a call-up, at least.

Whither Shane Watson?

It hasn't been mentioned much, but Shane Watson got a century just recently. He scored 135 runs off 98 balls in the ICC Champions Trophy warm-up match against the West Indies. Of course, in the next match he scored 4 (India) and in the next one, he scored 24 (England). Go figure.

It seems as though the Australian cricket-following fraternity is cleanly divided over the Shane Watson Conundrum. There are his loyal supporters, such as myself, who see Watson as the second best batsman on the Australian side by a good margin, but who has unfortunately been beleaguered by a spat of poor showings of late, interspersed by the occasional triumphant hundred; and there are his ruthless detractors, who would rather see him permanently dropped from the Australian side and would purge all evidence that he ever wore the baggy green.

The figures I mentioned above for the last three matches of the ICC Champions Trophy demonstrate this divide. His detractors point only to his poor figures, especially his shoddy Test figures in recent times. His supporters like me point to his occasional display of grand form to demonstrate that he has the skill and the capability to do great things and lead the Australian side.

For what it's worth, after consideration of the matter, I thought Watson's retirement from the vice-captaincy was the right decision. I was disappointed at the time, as I had always seen Watson as the natural deputy and successor to Michael Clarke (and I still do, as a matter of fact). But I think Watson needs the space and the time to recover his form. I wouldn't rule out Shane Watson eventually resuming the vice-captaincy, or even one day captaining Australia (providing he isn't too old, or retired, by then).

Like many Shane Watson supporters, I think he should be placed where he plays best: as an opener. He has batted forty-six Test innings as an opener at an average of 43.07. Not too bad, eh? He has limited experience elsewhere in the order, and with not nearly as much success: eight innings at no.3 for 28.50; seven innings at no.4 for 27.86; one innings at no.5 for 5; seven innings at no.6 for 24.29; and six innings at no.7 for 14.50. To bat forty-six innings as an opener for a consistent average of 43.07 should suggest that the opener position is his natural position, especially when compared with his less-than-spectacular averages at other places in the order. This is confirmed by the fact that he has an average of 46.10 at the opening position over 91 ODI innings. Impressive, no?

In the Ashes I would pair him with Chris Rogers in the opening position (ignore my previous post saying otherwise, I had admittedly not even considered Rogers then). That's what I call a formidable opening pair, or at least as formidable as Australia is capable of at this point in time. But I have a cynical feeling that Watson will continue to be played down the order to make way for David Warner and/or Ed Cowan (neither of whom inspire tremendous confidence as openers).

Nevertheless, this may be the defining period of Watson's career. He must make or break. His performance in the upcoming back-to-back Ashes series must be up to par - and preferably beyond - or the siren calls of the drop-Watson brigade will be all the more pertinent, and the selectors might just have a mind to start heeding them.