Solving the Watson conundrum

[benchmark00]

Stopped reading at this:

Watson is pure throbbing talent. Large, powerful, deadly and mean.

Too homoerotic for this hour of the day.

 

[Spark]

Good article. Moving the thread because I reckon it'll be good to include it in the previous discussion we had here.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

I have the solution! Send him over the Tasman and in return we can give you two really talented batting all-rounders called Nicol and Franklin.

 

[Red]

I think his fitness is now too unreliable for test cricket.

And if he can't bowl, he shouldn't play imo. He is also a liability in the field.

Selectors need to make the call. Either play an all-rounder at 6 or 7 like Henriques or Maxwell, or just select a new batsman to bat at 4 and rely on the four frontline bowlers to do their job.

 

[Spark]

Nah he's a decent ring fielder. Just don't rate him in the slips, that's all.

 

[uvelocity]

Teach him to bowl spin imo

Whatever they do this in and out **** needs to stop

ahh thats where i wrote it

lion king thief

 

[vic_orthdox]

Nah he's a decent ring fielder. Just don't rate him in the slips, that's all.

He's serviceable/reliable. But really, he moves like a fast bowler in the main. Half the reason they tried him in the slips for so long.

 

[quincywagstaff]

some good points, but let's put some context into it: He's basically wrote it because some people have suggested replacing his beloved Cowan with Watson

Yeah, thought exactly the same thing. Amusing to think he was arguing in favour of Cowan due to him averaging 32 this summer, conveniently ignoring half the Tests were played against one of the weakest pace attacks I've seen in Australia.

Don't know why Kimber is arguing that Watson's bowling is underrated - thought it had been generally acknowledged how valuable his bowling has been to the side in the past couple of years. imo I think if he dropped his bowling it would be a bigger loss to the side than Hussey's retirement.

The article though does allude to one of Watson's problems though that he seems too willing to put his hand up for any role and position in the side. He almost seems too desperate, which is how he appears in his play at times. His seeming focus as a pure opening bat is a good thing in this regard.

 

[Tangles]

I don't get the Cowan love tbh. Seriously average opener. Poor mans Katich. I'd line to try Watson and Warner if he can stay fit not bowling.

 

[Furball]

I don't get the Cowan love tbh. Seriously average opener. Poor mans Katich. I'd line to try Watson and Warner if he can stay fit not bowling.

not sure if srs

 

[Red]

Cowan and Warner need to be allowed to continue at the top of the order. They are doing the job there, and I think they'll get better and better.

The last thing we want is Watson opening in English conditions.

 

[Tangles]

Watson when fit is in the top 6 bats with Hussey gone imo. His best position is opening. Cowan may be in the team to play the dour dependable opener role but he's not exactly impressive at that level. Once he has a start I dont feel that he will bat the day turning over the strike and an average in the low 30's suggests that he doesnt do much more than take the shine of the new ball. If we had a standout candidate for number 3 there would be calls to move Hughes back to open. At least then we wouldnt have to worry about Watson being in the top 6 and missing so many matches.

 

[Red]

and an average in the low 30's suggests that he doesnt do much more than take the shine of the new ball. .

Cowan averaging 30, opening with Warner, means that if Cowan's the first dismissed, we're likely to be about 1/80. I'm more than ok with that.

Also, it's still too early in Cowan's career to say he only averages low 30 (I mean at this stage, if he got 3 hundreds in a row, his average would jump to over 40). Will only take a couple of biggish scores for that to look a lot better than it does.

I'm not Cowan's biggest fan, but he's doing the job at the moment. And we can't keep changing the team every time Watson decides he want a different ****ing role!

 

[vic_orthdox]

What Shane Watson wants comes first.

 

[watson]

There's not a lot of difference bewteen the 2 players in terms of numbers;

Cowan
Tests = 13
HS = 136
100s = 1
Ave = 32.81
SR: 43.10 (perfectly acceptable for an opener)

Watson
Tests = 38
HS = 126
100s = 2
Ave = 37.02
SR = 50.15

However the problem with Watson is that it is quite likely that he has already peaked as a batsman. In other words, he's as good as he's ever going to get. If he had the temperment of Steve Waugh then we could look forward to an improvement. But unfortunatley he's a long way off Steve Waugh.

On the other hand I get the feeling that Cowan has the potential to get better. He is no where near peak performance yet, and I think we can look forward to an increased average and more centuries.

In short;

Watson = has been
Cowan = good potential.

Therefore, we stick with the Warner-Cowan combo for the time being.

 

[Philhughesisbes]

There's not a lot of difference bewteen the 2 players in terms of numbers;

Cowan
Tests = 13
HS = 136
100s = 1
Ave = 32.81
SR: 43.10 (perfectly acceptable for an opener)

Watson
Tests = 38
HS = 126
100s = 2
Ave = 37.02
SR = 50.15

However the problem with Watson is that it is quite likely that he has already peaked as a batsman. In other words, he's as good as he's ever going to get. If he had the temperment of Steve Waugh then we could look forward to an improvement. But unfortunatley he's a long way off Steve Waugh.

On the other hand I get the feeling that Cowan has the potential to get better. He is no where near peak performance yet, and I think we can look forward to an increased average and more centuries.

In short;

Watson = has been
Cowan = good potential.

Therefore, we stick with the Warner-Cowan combo for the time being.

I agree Cowan should remain at the top but to suggest Watson has reached his peak ??? If Watson gives up the bowling don't you see his average going up?Watson and Cowan will be on the same team for some time certainly up to the end of the ashes series.

 

[NUFAN]

Watson isn't that bad, some of his posts are a little off the mark but he does try hard and clearly loves the game. At the moment I wouldn't ban him at all, maybe give him a few infraction points if he goes off topic (when people do that it really grinds my gears).

 

[Red]

Watson isn't that bad, some of his posts are a little off the mark but he does try hard and clearly loves the game. At the moment I wouldn't ban him at all, maybe give him a few infraction points if he goes off topic (when people do that it really grinds my gears).

Very true. Watson's a solid contributor and we need his experience in this transition period.

 

[watson]

I agree Cowan should remain at the top but to suggest Watson has reached his peak ??? If Watson gives up the bowling don't you see his average going up?Watson and Cowan will be on the same team for some time certainly up to the end of the ashes series.

If you look at Watson's career he has a good year followed by a bad year - 2008 was terrible, 2009 was great, 2010 was mediocre, 2011 was a shocker, 2012 was blah. Like his fitness his form tends to be all over the shop, and I suspect that the 2 things are inter-related.

So, over the long term his career stat's indicate that in a several years from now his average will be exactly 37 all over again.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Cowan by contrast averages 34, is a nuffy in the field

For all of Cowan's faults, I'd argue that his work at short leg has done him nothing but credit in the side.