Shane Watson scored a Test high 176 runs for Australia.
The cricket world was just getting over the retirement of the two greats Kumar Sangakkara and Michael Clarke on the same day, now have another one in the form of Shane Watson, thrust upon them in a matter of a fortnight. Thanks to his all-round abilities, he was widely regarded as a largely limited overs player. But Shane Watson broke into the Test side on the back of some solid performances even in the longer version and was soon a regular in the side. However injuries and inconsistent form probably jaded Watson faster to announce his retirement from Tests admitting he didn’t have 'the fight' in him to reclaim his spot in the Australian Test team. However, Watson only 34 years, still has age on his side and will continue to play in the limited-over version.
Watson, who was ruled out of the ongoing one-day series against England with another injury to his troublesome right calf, told teammates of his decision early this morning. It was a disastrous tour for the injury prone all-rounder, who played in the opening Test at Cardiff (his 59th), which has now turned out to be his Test career’s final match.
Watson born in Ipswich, Queensland on June 17, 1981, made his mark as a right hand batsman and as a right arm fast medium bowler for Tasmania from January 2001 to March 2004. He then returned to his home state Queensland from November 2004 to March 2009. Then since November 2010 to date he has been playing for New South Wales. He made his Test debut in January 2005 at the SCG against Pakistan.
In the history of Test cricket only 22 players have the distinction of making over 3000 runs and also claiming over 75 wickets. And for Australia only three have done it. See the table below:
Australian Test all-rounders with 3000+ runs and 75 or more wickets
