HAMPSHIRE all-rounder Shane Watson must become one of the biggest swingers in town if he is to force his way into the Australian Test team, according to outspoken former Australian captain Ian Chappell.
The 23-year-old recently wrote his name into the Rose Bowl record books when he slammed an unbeaten century against Somerset on his Hampshire first-class debut.
The Queenslander has yet to take that form into the limited-overs game for his new county, and marked his Twenty20 Cup debut with two golden ducks in 24 hours at Essex and Surrey last weekend.
Since recovering from stress fractures of the back, which ruined his chances of playing for Australia at the 2003 World Cup, Watson has been in the batting form of his life.
He scored nearly 900 runs in Australian first-class cricket for Tasmania during the winter, and was voted the state's player of the year.
Watson's dream is to be the first-choice all-rounder for Australia in both Test and one-day international cricket.
His batting, as Hampshire supporters would testify, is improving but he only bowled a handful of overs for Tasmania last year.
And therein lies the problem for Chappell.
At this stage he believes Watson is more of a lower-order batsman than a genuine all-rounder.
That opinion goes against that of former Australian Test batsman and national selector David Boon, who recently told the Daily Echo that Watson is "developing into a competent all-rounder."
Chappell said: "Shane has lots of potential.
"He batted up the order for Tasmania last summer, but to my mind if he is batting at number six he could be very useful for Australia in one-day cricket.
"He is an explosive hitter who could contribute important runs in the latter stages of a one-day international."
Watson's medium-pace bowling was often relied upon in the dying overs of one-day internationals for Australia before his injury.
But persistent injury problems, and a lack of pace, makes it unlikely that he will be selected for Australia on the strength of his bowling alone.
"Shane needs to improve his bowling if he wants to play Test cricket," Chappell said.
"His bowling is very direct. In Test cricket he will only dismiss the best batsmen if he learns to swing the ball.
And Chappell added: "Glenn McGrath is not quick but he moves the ball off the seam.
"Shane is not as accurate as McGrath so he needs to swing the ball instead."
Watson is one of the 25 Australian cricketers that was awarded a Cricket Australia contract last February for the next 12 months.
He was not selected for Australia's home series against Sri Lanka but is one of the 30 named in the provisional Australian one-day squad for the ICC Trophy in England in September.
Australia are touring India in October and then face a split summer at home against New Zealand and Pakistan.
Kent all-rounder and next winter's Queensland colleague Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey are ahead of him in the pecking order for Australian selection.
Both, like Watson, are explosive batsmen - they have both scored Twenty20 Cup centuries in England - and both are useful bowlers.
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