Biography of Shane Watson:- Shane Watson is an International cricketer from Australia, he was born in Queensland on 17th June 1981. Watson played as an all-rounder in all the three formats of cricket, he debuted in 2002 against South Africa and played his last game in 2016 vs.
India. Shane Watson is a record-holder in all the three formats of the game, he is a fast-medium bowler and opening batsman. Watto is regarded as the most varied Australian batsman in the modern era, he has the ability to ruin the opponent ranks with his blistering knocks in batting and then completing it with the fast bowling including the reverse swing he gains in last overs.
The biography of Shane Watson is inscribed with injuries, controversies, and accomplishments in 14 years of an illustrious International career.
Biography of Shane Watson
- Born:- 17 June 1981 (age 36), Ipswich
- Spouse:- Lee Furlong (m. 2010)
- Test Debut:- 2 January 2005 v Pakistan
- ODI Debut:- 24 March 2002 v South Africa
- Current Teams:- : Australia national cricket team (#33 / All-rounder)
- Siblings:- Nicole Watson
Shane Watson plays with theright hand, he is exactly 6 feet in height, Watson scored his first century against Pakistan, thanks to the dropped catch.
Watson made his ODI debut on 24 March 2002 against South Africa, he had to make sacrifices to make it to the ODI squad after a long spell playing for Queensland. Watson had always been prone to injuries, back strains, and fractures.
Watto made his Test debut three years after anappearance in ODIs. It was 2nd January 2005, and the opponents were Pakistan. The t20i debut came against South Africa in 2006, and his last T20i was against India in March 2016.
Watson retired from all forms of International cricket in 2016; he still plays for various cricket franchises in different cricket leagues.
Shane Watson Stats & Records
The Aussie all-rounder holds several records under his belt, he is regarded as the last one to leave International arena from the team that won consecutive World Cups.
Before making his debut for the national team, Shane Watson represented Tasmania in thefirst-class circuit, later moved to his hometown club Queensland in mid-2004.
In 59 test matches, Shane Watson scored 3731 runs with a not-so-impressive batting average of 35.20, but he compensated the void with his bowling, Watto took 75 wickets at a bowling average of 33.70, the best bowling figures of 6/33 and three 5-wicket hauls. It included his 4 test centuries and 24 half-centuries.
His top score was 176 in test cricket. In ODIs, Watson was a specialist opening batsman and preferred bowler to bowl middle and death overs in tense situations.
In 190 ODI games played in a 14-year span, Watson’s bat fired 5718 runs with a dazzling average of 40.54 and 168 wickets. His highest score i.e. 185 not out was highest for any Australian batsman in ODI cricket.
The total score included 9 centuries and 33 fifties. Shane Watson finished his ODI career with a bowling average of 31.80.
In 58 T20 International matches, Watson had 1462 runs and 48 wickets and a top score of 124 not out. In 137 first-class games, Watson had a batting average of 42.57, that was 9451 runs in total with the help of 20 hundred and 54 half-centuries.
His highest figures were 203 not out. In thebowling department, he was quick in bowling as well as taking wickets, a total of 210 wickets were dismantled with a bowling average of 30.
International Career
Watson toured South Africa to play his first-ever ODI series, he was recommended for his brilliance in bowling departments as he was the highest wicket-taker for Tasmania in the Pura Cup season 2001.
Steve Waugh was the primary facilitator to selected Watson in the squad whom Watson termed as his idol in cricket. Watson appeared in his first ODI game replacing Steve Waugh. Being with the squad for a year, Watson had the fracture that pushed him out of the squad for a long time.
He missed the World Cup 2003 after the World Cup Watson was included in the squad for his batting skills. In 2005, Watson finally made his Test debut against Pakistan Cricket team in a home series. In the same year, Watson was included in Ashes squad and was soon replaced for his shoulder injury this time.
In 2006, Watson returned with a better physique that lasted for a season. Symonds and Watson had a competition for the all-rounder spot in the team that was mostly won by Symonds.
Watson opened the innings for the first time in ICC Champions Trophy 2006. In the following Ashes series, Shane Watson was demoted to the old spot i.e. at number 6. Before the Ashes 2006-07, Watson was injured again, this time it was his hamstring injury followed by ashoulder strain.
He played 2007 World Cup, his injury made him miss only two matches of the tournament. Australia won the World Cup in Watson’s presence, he later missed ICC WT20 2007 due to ahamstring injury after the World Cup.
In 2008, Watson made his place in the ODI and Test team against India; it was the series when Watson and Gautam Gambhir were caught in a controversy during the third test. Watson sledged Gambhir while Gambhir in return elbowed him that resulted in a one-match ban to Gautam Gambhir.
Watson’s career was affected severely due to the recurring injuries and inconsistency due to the fractures that happened every now and then. In 2009, Watson returned to the Test squad for the Ashes 2009, he was carrying a good form and played tremendously throughout the series.
Watson, after several nervous nineties finally scored a hundred against Pakistan on Boxing Day test. In 2009, he was awarded by Cricketer of the Year Award for his test performances in three consecutive test series.
The form continued in 2010, he started scoring high totals against Asian teams. During the season 2009-10, Watson had the highest batting average by any Australian test batsman for two successive years.
On April 2011, Watson became the highest run-scorer for Australia in ODIs scoring 185 runs not out against Bangladesh. He also became the fastest 150 maker in ODIs, most sixes and most runs from fours and sixes. In 2010 and then again in 2011, Shane Watson was rewarded with Allan Border Medal.
In 2012, Australia went from ICC WT20 Underdogs to one of the hottest candidates for the trophy solely because of Watson’s all-round stats in the tournament. In ICC World Cup 2015, Watson was the main ingredient of Australia’s World Cup win.
Though he was troubled by the furious spell of Pakistani pace bowler Wahab Riaz but survived after the dropped catch that gave him another life and Australia went on to win comfortably afterward.
In January 2016, Watson was declared as T20i captain by Cricket Australia, he was also included in the list of few players appearing as captain in all the formats of thegame for Australia. He retired the same year and was named Australian T20 Player of the year in 2017.
IPL Career
Shane Watson had an illustrious IPL career as an all-rounder. He remained the most expensive overseas player in IPL for three seasons. He is the only cricketer in IPL history to have won IPL Man of the Tournament twice. Shane Watson made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals in 2008.
At the end of the tournament, Watson topped the bowling charts for his team finishing with 17 wickets and leading his team to the semi-finals with 4 MOM awards, it was the first time he won Man of the Tournament Award.
The second IPL season couldn’t see Watson performing in the arena due to injuries. He was retained by RR for the third season of Indian Premier League in 2011.
In the season he played for Rajhasthan Royals, Watto scored 330 runs in 11 games with the highest score of 89 not out at a batting average of 33.00, with the ball, Watson took 6 wickets with best figures of 3/19.
In IPL 2013 season, Watson finally scored a century against CSK off 61 balls, it was the second time Watto won the Man of the Tournament Award, most by any player.
IPL 2014 made Watson the highest paid overseas player in the season, he was made thecaptain of Rajasthan Royals for 2014 season. He currently plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore for 2016-2017 seasons under Virat Kohli’s captaincy.
Pakistan Super League
Watson was selected as Icon Player for Islamabad United in the inaugural season of PSL, his team won the tournament.
He was retained by the same franchise for 2017 season but couldn’t do well in the subsequent season.
Shane Watson Personal Life and Family
Shane Watson earned a sports scholarship in 2000 from Australian Cricket Academy, he played for Tasmania instead of his hometown club Queensland.
Watson’s father name is Bob Watson, Shane Watson wife Lee Furlong is a Media anchor at Fox Sports. Both married on 3rd June 2010 and are blessed with a baby boy and a girl. William Watson is 4-year old as of 2017, and Matilda Victoria Watson is almost 2 years old.
