Ashes 2013: Is it ‘a day late and a dollar short’ for Shane Watson?

Shane Watson flopped badly till the fourth Ashes Test and didn’t manage to impress with the bat.

Zee Media Bureau/ Chaitan Papnai

New Delhi: Shane Watson scored a big hundred on the first day of the fifth and final Ashes Test at Oval. It’s undoubtedly a big relief for the Australian team, as they dominated the opening day. Though the Australian team is at the driving seat, courtesy to Watson’s 176 runs knock, and will try to cross the mark of 500 runs on the second day, but isn’t it too late for the Aussies, who have already lost the series and urn? Watson flopped badly till the fourth Ashes Test and didn’t manage to impress with the bat. In fact it’s his first century in almost three years – his last Test hundred was against India, when he scored 126 in Mohali in October 2010. But Watson realised it as he stated after scoring his biggest hundred in Test cricket. “It is only a consolation. The most important time was the first three Test matches and I wasn`t able to do that. I`ve had a lot of soul searching to do because I knew how important it was to set up the series. It was important for me to score runs as a senior player and I wasn`t able to do it. I have been asking myself a lot of different questions over the past five Tests with my cricket,” stated Watson. Whatever it might be but the senior and arguably the second most technically sound batsman in the current Australian squad must have found some solace in this ton.