When a cricket enthusiast thinks of the finest all-rounders in history, Australia’s Shane Robert Watson would almost definitely come to mind. Watson, a right-handed batsman and right-handed fast-medium swing bowler from Queensland, was born on June 17, 1981. He is the first Australian to score an international century in any of the game’s three formats.
Watto, as he is affectionately known, was an Australian Cricket Academy scholarship recipient. Despite beginning his domestic career with Tasmania, he returned to Queensland to play for his home team. He was turning in top performances in the Pura Cup at the age of 20, and his performances in Australia attracted the interest of the selectors.
Records
For two calendar years (2009–2010), Australia had the best Test batting average (50.40).
For five years in a row, the highest-paid non-Indian cricketer (2011-2015)
Awards
Man of the Series, Champions Trophy Man of the Tournament, IPL 2008 Man of the Series in 2009, World T20 2012
IPL 2013 Most Valuable Player
The Allan Border Medal was awarded in 2010 and 2011.
Career
Domestic Career
Shane Watson began his first-class cricket career with Tasmania after leaving his home state of Queensland, but as his international career blossomed, he returned to Queensland to play for his home state. Watson’s time in the domestic setup was short-lived, as he was destined for greater things when he was called up to the ODI senior squad in 2002. So far, he has played 137 First-Class matches and scored 9,451 runs at a 42.57 average..
IPL Career
Shane Warne and Shane Watson, two Australians, scripted Rajasthan Royals’ fairy-tale run in the IPL’s inaugural season. He was not only the team’s top run scorer, but also the third-highest wicket-taker, and he was instrumental in the Royals’ success.
Shane Watson managed to compete for the Royals in the ensuing years, but national service and injuries stopped him from playing in the premier competition. Watson, on the other hand, displayed his class in the fifth season of the IPL in 2013, when he scored his first IPL century, 101, against CSK.
In 2014, the all-rounder was the Royals’ captain, but he had a quiet season by his standards. In 2015, he was back in the rotation, but he faced injuries and missed a few games. That season, however, he went on to make an undefeated 104 against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Watson put his hat in the ring for the mega-auctions after the Rajasthan Royals were barred due to the spot-fixing controversy. The Australian was ultimately sold for a staggering Rs. 9.5 crores to Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he had one of his worst seasons of his career, as Watson has admitted on many occasions.
However, a returning Chennai Super Kings team poached him for the 2018 season, and the Australian repaid MS Dhoni and the CSK team management’s confidence in him by hitting a miraculous 100 with a battered and bloodied knee in the final. Watson’s heroics helped CSK win the tournament. He silenced detractors who said he lacked the stamina to remain in the IPL caravan by smashing a career-high 555 runs in the season, his best in IPL history.
The veteran is set to take the wheel in the upcoming season, despite the fact that his 2019 season was a little slow by his own expectations.
International Career
The all-rounder made his One-Day International debut against South Africa in Centurion in 2002. He only scored two runs and bowled six overs without picking up a wicket. The Australians, on the other hand, dominated the game by 45 points. Watson was a regular member of the ODI squad until the start of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, when he was scheduled to make his debut but was forced to miss the World Cup bus due to an unexpected injury. In the 2004–05 season, as a bowling all-rounder, he returned to routine ODI duties.
Shane Watson has yet to deliver a masterclass display that demonstrated his true talent four years after making his ODI debut. That changed when he was elevated to the top of the order and opened the batting for Australia in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy alongside wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist. Watson scored 50 in Australia’s semi-final win over India after losing in the first two matches against the West Indies and England. He then took two wickets and scored 57 not out in the finals to seal the victory.
The 2011 50-over World Cup was a run-fest for the opener, and he maintained his fine form when he struck an unbeaten 185-run inning against Bangladesh nine days after the tournament ended, with 15 sixes and 15 fours.
He helped Australia reach the finals of the 2015 World Cup, scoring 67 against Sri Lanka and 64 against Pakistan as Australia won the tournament. On September 15, 2015, he played his last ODI against England, and a year later, he retired from the format.
Watson’s dominance in white-ball cricket earned him a chance to play Test cricket in 2005, but injuries hampered him and he had to wait until the 2008-09 season to play the format regularly.
Watson was named in the team for the 2006–07 Ashes series against England, but he was forced to miss the first three Test matches due to injury.
Watson scored his second test century in the first test of Australia’s 2010 tour of India, an attritional 126 runs off 338 balls on a sluggish, low Mohali pitch. He also scored a century in each innings of the warm-up match, though at a much faster pace. In the second innings, he top-scored with a run-a-ball 56, which was critical in creating a respectable target after Australia’s middle order crashed in dramatic fashion once more following his dismissal.
The team management of Michael Clarke, who was also a selector at the time, and coach Mickey Arthur dropped four players from the 3rd Test against India in March 2013, including vice-captain Shane Watson, as well as James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson, and Usman Khawaja, for failing to give a presentation on team results. Watson retired from Test cricket after the 2015 Ashes setback in England.
Watto’s favourite format was T20, where he had tremendous success not only for Australia but also in the IPL, where his all-round ability made him a household name. Australia has never won the t20 World Cup, but they came close in 2012, thanks to Watson’s outstanding results. Because of his dominance with both the bat and the ball, the experts unanimously chose him as Player of the Tournament. Watson was elected T20I captain on 31 January 2016, making him one of the few Australians to captain in all formats. He opened the innings after a long break and scored 124*, breaking many records.
Watson captained the Australian test side in a single test match in 2013 due to the injury sustained by Michael Clarke. He did not have a memorable outside as the Aussies lost the match inside three days against India.
Family
Shane Watson was born on June 17, 1981, in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, to Bob and Barb Watson. He has a son named William Watson and a daughter named Matilda Victoria Watson with his partner Lee Furlong.