October 10 Thursday 2002
Watson out to defend Australian allrounder spot

SYDNEY: Australian one-day allrounder Shane Watson believes he is improving with every game and has a good chance of playing international cricket for a long time.

Watson, the incumbent allrounder in the Australian limited-over side, is vying with Andrew Symonds, Ian Harvey and Shane Lee for a world cup place as the team's allrounder.

A hard-hitting middle-order batsmen and fast-medium bowler, 21-year-old Watson has been touted as the answer to the problem all-rounder's position in the Australian team.

"It's good that Australia is looking for an all-rounder, there hasn't been one for a while," Watson said on Wednesday.

"But I'm just worrying about trying to improve my game and I know if I keep improving the way I am then I've got a good chance of hopefully playing for Australia for a long time."

The Tasmanian representative made a low-key start to his international one-day career, receiving few opportunities to shine, though he scored a match-winning unbeaten 77 against Kenya recently.

Since breaking into the national one-day side earlier this year playing in 15 matches, he has so far scored 202 runs at 33.66 and taken eight wickets at 46.25.

"I'm improving all the time. From that first game I've played I've improved every game and I'm really getting confident in what I'm doing now," Watson said.