Top 5 players who could replace Shane Watson in Australia's Test side
Watson announced his Test retirement recentlyA true all-rounder is someone who is equally adept with both the bat and ball and has the ability to make it into the team purely as a bowler or a batsman. They give a team the much-needed balance and give the team management the flexibility of playing an extra bowler or a batsman depending on the pitch conditions. Very few in the history of cricket have been genuine world class all-rounders; the likes of Sir Gary Sobers, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, and Jacques Kallis would fall in that elite bracket.Although recently retired Australian all-rounder Shane Watson may not be considered in the same league as the above-mentioned legends, he did a satisfactory job for Australia for about ten years. Watson played 59 Tests for Australia, scoring 3,731 runs, taking 75 wickets and holding 45 catches. Watson called time on his Test career after he sustained a series-ending calf injury in the controversial 64-run ODI win over England at Lords in the second ODI of the on-going 5-match ODI series.As the Queenslander bows out of Test cricket leaving a huge void in the Australian team, we look at 5 players who can replace him in the Test side.
#1 Mitchell Marsh
The front-runner to replace Watson, in the long run is, Mitchell Marsh. The 23- year old Western Australian in fact replaced Watson in the second Ashes Test match at Lords last month. Watson was dropped after poor performances with the bat and ball in the first Test at Cardiff, which eventually turned out to be his last Test for Australia. Marsh picked up 8 wickets in the three Ashes Test matches that he played and picked up his career-best 3/30 in the final Test match at the Oval.
Mitchell, son of former Aussie keeper Geoff Marsh, is a strong hitter of the cricket ball and is a mid 80-miles per hour bowler, which is what most cricket teams are looking for in an all-rounder. He can bat at No 5 or No 6 and dominate bowling line ups. He is likely to be given a long run in the side now.
Tom Moody, former Australian cricketer and now a commentator who has followed Mitchell from his younger days, believes that he has what it takes to become the world’s No.1 all-rounder. At just 23, Mitchell certainly has age by his side to prove Tom right.