Australia hoping for `fit and hungry` Watson ahead of crunch Proteas series

Sydney: The cricket management in Australia is still in a conundrum over how to give in form all-rounder Shane Watson proper rest before their crucial Test series against South Africa, which would play an important role in deciding which one is the world`s number best Test team.

After the Twenty20 World Cup, Watson, along with several other Australian players, will join the Sydney Sixers for the Champions League in South Africa, but when he gets back home, he would be facing the world`s best fast bowler Dale Steyn at the Gabba. The Australia management is fearful that Watson, who has already scored 234 runs and claimed 10 wickets, earning four Man of the Match awards in four games in the ongoing T20 World Cup, might not be fully fit during the Proteas series. Coach Mickey Arthur has already spoken of the importance of having a fit and hungry Watson for Australia`s big series. Arthur had also said he will have failed as coach if Watson doesn`t improve his record in Tests, in which he has managed two centuries. The coach admitted there were no easy answers to the puzzle posed by Watson`s Champions League and the Indian Premier League commitments other than to withdraw him from some matches for his country, such as the recent one-day series against Pakistan. ANI