Watto shakes run of misery
IT seemed set to be another day of humiliation for Shane Watson until the often-maligned cricketer turned in a performance that showcased his value to Australia.
Watson’s time in the Test team and first-class cricket may well be over but he remains a priority player for Australia in the limited-overs formats heading into next year’s Twenty20 World Cup.
After his latest forgettable dismissal, Watson roared back with a decisive bowling performance that claimed the two big England wickets as Australia surged to a 59run triumph in Southampton to open the five-match oneday series yesterday.
In the one-off T20 match against England in Cardiff he blocked a ball that freakishly bounced back toward his stumps, and with a chance to kick it away, Watson had a complete air swing and was dismissed for 8.
Then in the ODI, Watson was called through for a run that wasn’t there by batting partner Matt Wade.
He was caught short of his ground by metres.
It was cruel and unusual punishment for a man who has suffered enough on this tour, after his axing from the Test side after one Ashes match – at Sophia Gardens.
Wade understood this was no ordinary stuff-up and that he had inadvertently kicked a man when he was down.
“I feel for ‘Watto’, for sure. I feel bad about it, definitely,” said Wade, who went on to produce the match-winning innings of 71 not out off 50.
“You don’t really (put it out of your head) for the first 15 minutes, you’re thinking about it. “I was disappointed. ‘‘I thought there was a run there obviously and there was not a run there.
“It would’ve been worse if I did get a globe (a duck) and I’d run ‘Watto’ out as well.
‘‘It would have been horrible.”
England were cruising at 1-152 to start the 27th over, when Watson found something special to slide one through an approaching James Taylor and clean bowled him for 49.
It broke a 40-run stand with England captain Eoin Morgan that threatened to take the match at The Rose Bowl away from Australia.
Watson gave Taylor a death stare as the jockey-sized batsman walked past him and slowly Australia started to get hot again.
When Watson then got Morgan to leave England 5-194, the wheels completely fell off as the home side lost a further two wickets without troubling the scorers.
The second ODI at Lord’s in London is on tonight.