A poor run of form has been the main reason for his omission and a potential career ending move for Shane Watson, but he is prepared not to go down without a fight. With the rise and splendid form of Mitchell Marsh and with both offering similar qualities, a return for Watson looks highly unlikely.
Marsh smashed back-to-back centuries against county sides Kent and Essex and he looks mature and calm.
Watson has not been able to stake a regular berth in the test side and his power and strength works in limited-overs, although not in the longest form of the game. His lack of patience and inability to stay together for long periods of the game has not helped. A different Watson than the one that is seen in the shortest formats of the game, is seen in test cricket and some feebly form accounted for his axing.
“Yea, I’m unsure what the future holds” Watson said in an interview, speaking to cricket.com.au. “After the first game I was very disappointed to miss out, but in the end I have myself to blame. I’ve been very lucky and fortunate through my career to have plenty of opportunities and a lot of opportunities and I didn’t score enough runs, it’s as simple as that, in the West-Indies and the first (Ashes) test as well. I am disappointed, more so disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to perform well enough to be part of such an exciting series, as the Ashes series is, so we will just have to see what happens in the future, but in the end the most important thing is that whoever goes out on the field; we put on an absolute best show that we possibly can, to get back into the series again”.
“At that time in the nets he (part of management) had already told me previously, so I actually moved on to talk about wine at that stage, because I thought I was over-talking about it (that he was dropped) and it was as simple as I hadn’t performed. So I didn’t really have to talk too much to him about it. The reason why I was dropped is very obvious; the reason why I was not picked, so that conversation at Lords had moved on to other extra cricket activities, more so than the cricket side of things”, continues the right handed batsmen.
I still feel like I have a lot to give; I still feel like I’m only getting better and improving. So in all formats, while I’m still loving playing and enjoying every single moment, getting out and continue trying to get better every time I play and train, I will keep on playing as long as it is still there. I know how lucky I have been to be able to have the opportunities I’ve had and while I’m still loving every minute of it, then I will continue to try to push to get the best out of myself and play. You never know what is around the corner, obviously I haven’t played over the last few test matches, so I don’t know exactly what is around the corner, but I’m still excited about what the future holds. I still love playing, so while I still love playing, I will continue to do it to play well again.
It certainly has been burning deep within for quite a while, now that we are in the position we are, 2-1 down, with two tests to play, there is certainly a lot of determination in our group to be able to do everything we possibly can to be at our best for the next two matches. Over the last couple of years we have achieved some pretty incredible things: a 5-0 Ashes whitewash at home; winning a World Cup at home, as well, so this is something we as players and also fans as well would love to be able to tick off as well as that we have won an Ashes series away. But we have a hell of a lot of work to go over the next two matches to be able to reach that goal”, concludes Watson.