Is it time to give up on Watson?

[aussie1st]

Watson, who returned to the Australia line-up for this tour after being out since last November with a back injury, had also been scheduled to return to bowling on Friday morning (EST).

But he strained his groin while batting and did not take the field.

The injury dashed Watson's plans to head to South Africa for an Indian Premier League stint. Instead he will fly home on Friday for rehabilitation.

Watson hurt as Aussies thrashed - Cricket - Fox Sports

This guy has a heap of talent but my God he gets injured a lot. Lost count what his latest injury puts him at. Have to wonder how long our selectors will stick with him as he just can't seem to stay on the field for more than 1 series.

 

[aussie_ben91]

His just started producing results. No need to give up on him now.

 

[aussie1st]

Well lucky for him his injury isn't that serious. But if he picks up another serious injury you have to wonder if it is worth the effort if hes going to be injured every second series.

 

[Biggy]

He's had some bad luck for sure, now he won't be playing the IPL this year either...

Watson, Bracken, Hopes out of IPL.

 

[Jakester1288]

His just started producing results. No need to give up on him now.

He was producing results from the West Indies tour (and perhaps before) regularly and consistently when he was on the park. No point giving up on him.

 

[Precambrian]

Let him have niggles and I don't care about his International career, as long as he turns up for the Royals every IPL season.

 

[SciD]

Was he rushed in by CA for Pakistan series.

 

[sifter132]

Was he rushed in by CA for Pakistan series.

No not really. He'd been batting for Queensland already, it's just that he couldn't bowl. And he was picked as a pure batsman for the selectors for the Pakistan series, and wasn't planning on bowling in a game until the T20I. He was bowling in the nets though.

This guy has a heap of talent but my God he gets injured a lot. Lost count what his latest injury puts him at. Have to wonder how long our selectors will stick with him as he just can't seem to stay on the field for more than 1 series.

I don't see why he would get ditched. It's annoying that one of your better players gets injured fairly regularly, but it's not a PROBLEM for the selectors. The only potential problem is him breaking down in a game and the good thing about that is that he's an all-rounder. All-rounders are rare creatures and very useful, but they aren't vital. Watson's really a team's 5th bowler, so if he goes down in a Test match, you still have 4 good bowlers to use - it's nothing like losing your match winning spinner in importance. Same with batting, he's not a lynchpin of our batting lineup, so his loss is a little less important. In that way selectors would be more willing to punt on Watson's durability than say Shaun Tait's.

And there really isn't too much downside to continually picking him except that he may be stealing a spot from someone else. But there really isn't another obvious all-rounder of Watson's ability that the selectors would be thwarting by sticking with Watson. Henriques maybe? But he's a few years off international success. Hopes perhaps? But they seem to coexist in ODIs and Hopes probably will never play Tests.

Have there been any talented players who have been effectively barred from selection because they get injured too often? I can't think of any, and it just sounds a little overreactive. If the guy's fit and he's the best player available, you select him and I'm sure that's what the selectors will do with Watson.

 

[aussie1st]

It's usually the player that retires due to injury. And I'm probably more thinking in a rugby league mind where clubs let go of injury prone players. If he picks up another long term injury though I would be making him play domestic cricket for at least a year to make sure he doesn't break down again.

 

[CoolzEng45]

All rounder players always injured Watson and Flintoff.

 

[Jakester1288]

All rounder players always injured Watson and Flintoff.

Some are, some aren't. The do more than pure batsmen or bowlers, so they are more injury prone.

 

[sifter132]

All rounder players always injured Watson and Flintoff.

Jacob Oram too.

I think it will be Watson himself who quits before the selectors do. He might say, nah stuff the bowling it's giving me too much hassle and turn into a batsman. He's shown he can bat pretty well, so it's always an option for him.

 

[Insomniac]

Shahid Afridi is never injured

Or Shoaib Malik

And Afridi is a fast bowler... he bowled once at 136 kph which I think is faster than Hopes and tWatson.