The former captain of Australian Cricket team, Mark Taylor, has said that Shane Watson should be opening the batting for Australia in the upcoming Ashes series.
Watson has been quite successful opening the batting for Australia in test match cricket. His average as an opener is 43.06. But, in the last couple of years, he has been slotted in the middle order where he hasn’t been that successful. He has averaged less than 30 batting in the middle order.
In the Ashes squad of Australia, there are five openers namely David Warner, Ed Cowan, Phillip Hughes, Chris Rogers and Shane Watson. Warner and Cowan have been opening the batting for Australia since the last 1 year or so, but, they haven’t been that successful in recent times. So, there is a good possibility that Australia would try a new opening pair in the Ashes.
When Taylor was asked who should open for Australia in the upcoming Ashes series, he said, “I think Shane Watson must be there at the top of the order. Quite clearly, he hasn’t had much success in the middle order. He is struggling there. He feels comfortable opening the batting and if the Australian team management has to get the best out of him, they should send him to open the batting in the Ashes.”
“I think Watson should open with either Cowan or Rogers and David Warner should be slotted to bat at no. 5 or 6. That’s because Australia doesn’t have an explosive player lower down the order who can counter attack and change the game in a couple of hours. David Warner can do that job quite well.”
The Ashes series will start from 10th of July and the first match will be played at Trent Bridge.