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Martyn's departure opens the door for Watson

Source: ABC Sport - October 6, 2005

It seems like a cruel thing to say, but the rapid demise of Damien Martyn as an Australian Test player may be a blessing for Australian cricket.

Martyn's done a fine job in the baggy green and it seems a good bet that if he were to regain his place the runs would once again begin to flow.

But if selectors were to reinstate the Western Australian it would be an opportunity lost.

His sacking offers an opportunity to introduce a new face into the Australian line-up and therefore helps avoid a situation where a number of players reach their use-by date at the same time.

With that in mind, the man who replaces Martyn should not be Brad Hodge, who's been the batsman in waiting for the past couple of tours, but all rounder Shane Watson.

It's become evident over the past two years that Watson has the potential to become the future of Australian cricket.

The success of Andy Flintoff during the Ashes series served to highlight - if it ever needed highlighting - how effective a genuine all rounder can be.

But even before the Ashes tour, Watson was in the selectors' plans. A fixture in the one-day side, he made his Test debut in the Sydney Test earlier this year.

On that occasion his addition to the side as a third seamer batting at number seven, with Adam Gilchrist moving up a place to six, allowed selectors to choose both leg spinners Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill on the spin-friendly Sydney Cricket Ground.

However, there is a view that he should be developed in the short-term as a batsman in the Test line-up with his bowling becoming a longer-term project.

His former Tasmanian team-mate Jamie Cox certainly thinks so.

During the Ashes series Cox told Grandstand's Peter Newlinds Watson is primarily a batsman at this stage of his career.

"Australian cricket has got Shane Watson's career back-to-front. To me he's a five or six batsman who can bowl a few change overs. Cricket Australia seem to see his role as a bowler who can bat a bit," Cox said.

But there's nothing to say his bowling won't improve to the point where he can command a place in the side as either a batsman or a bowler.

He showed in the opening Super Series one-dayer that he has the attributes - he bowls fast, hits the pitch hard and can move the ball around.

His delivery to remove Kevin Pietersen lbw, which pitched outside off stump and cut back, was as good a ball as any in the match.

Despite that promise, his real value at present is as a batsman. He is technically very correct and has showed over the past two domestic seasons that he can make runs.

There may be other batsmen in Australia at the moment whose claims on Martyn's place appear stronger than Watson's, but some of those players - like Brad Hodge, Mike Hussey and Andrew Symonds - are on the wrong side of 30 and none is going to develop into a seam bowling all rounder.

Watson's in the squad for the Super Series Test starting next Friday. It should be the start of a long run as a member of Australia's Test team.