Shane Watson to quit Test cricket?

Zeenews Sports Bureau

Sydney: Reports from Australia are suggesting that Aussie batsman Shane Watson, who was axed from the Test team for the next match against India at Mohali, is considering quitting Test cricket altogether. The news comes after Watson, one of Australia`s main-stays, and three other team members were dropped from the squad by coach Micky Arthur following their failure to comply with team orders in an unprecedented internal disciplinary move. Watson, Pattinson, Khawaja and Johnson axed for disciplinary reasons» The official reason for his flying back home was that he wanted to be with his wife Lee Furlong, who is expecting a baby at the end of the month, and Watson added that he was going to tell the Australian team management that he wanted to miss the final Test in Delhi to be with his wife in that period, but he was axed before he could tell them. "I was about to communicate that to Mickey and the leadership group today but they obviously beat me to it by telling me I wasn't selected for this Test match," he said. "Also overnight, things have changed and Lee wasn't going to tell me things had changed because she knew how much it meant to me to be able to play this Test match. It was due in a couple of weeks but it's looking like things have sped up a little bit." When asked how he felt about heading home halfway through the Test series given the circumstances, he said that he was "excited to be able to go home and not miss the birth of my baby" but also "absolutely shattered". But the Australian media feels there's more to his feelings than explicitly voiced, an opinion that has been given more credence after Watson's comments to Sydney Morning Herald. He said: "Any time you're suspended for a Test match unless you do something unbelievably wrong, and obviously everyone knows what those rules are . . . I think it is very harsh. At this point in time I'm at a stage where I'm sort of weighing up my future and what I want to do with my cricket in general, to be honest. "I do love playing, there is no doubt about that, but at this point in time I'm going to spend the next few weeks with my family and just weigh up my options of just exactly which direction I want to go. "There are lot more important things in life - I certainly do love playing cricket and that passion is still there and I feel like I'm in the prime years of my cricket career. From that perspective I still feel like I've got a lot to give. But from a holistic perspective I've got to sit down with my family and decide which directions they are."