Hyderabad:
Shane Watson has realised he can never give up bowling completely in
his career after watching his team mates getting butchered by the Indian
batsmen during the first Test, which left the Australian all-rounder
with a temptation to start rolling his arms over again.
Ravaged
by injuries, Watson had commitment to playing only as a batsman on his
comeback during the four-Test series, but with the Aussies struggling to
contain the hosts, he is itching to bowl again.
"That was a time that reaffirmed to me that I do want to bowl," Watson was quoted as saying by `ESPN cricinfo`.
"That
was a time where if I hadn`t have made the decision not to bowl for
this tour that I could have had some input on the game at a crucial time
in the match. That to me was the first time over the last month since I
came back that I missed bowling.
"The decision I made is more a
longer-term decision to get some running and conditioning into my legs,
so when I start bowling again, my body has more chance of handling it.
"I
do appreciate the decision but it certainly reaffirmed to me that I`m
never going to give up bowling. It excites me having some input on the
game, especially when what I do could have an influence on a certain
part of the game," he added.
However, Watson said he will stick
to his plan of resuming bowling during the second half of the IPL so
that he can contribute with the ball during Australia`s Ashes tour of
England in July and August.
"That thought (of bowling at a later
stage during the India tour) has gone through my mind a few times but I
suppose we do have to stay on course," said Watson, who has taken 12
wickets at 33.41 in his past six Tests in India.
"There were reasons why I made that decision -- to try and get my body conditioned enough to get back into bowling.
"I
know I`ve needed two or three months just to be able to get some
conditioning into my body, to then hopefully hold together for the next
period of time once I get back bowling again."
"There is a big
reason why I`m not bowling at the moment -- in between the Test matches
to get some running into my legs to continue to build that resilience,
so I can hopefully just stay together," Watson said.
He was
forced to skip part of the Australian Test summer -- the Brisbane and
Adelaide Tests against South Africa due to calf and hamstring injuries.
Watson had bowled 47.4 overs during the Hobart Test against Sri Lanka
and then struggled with his calf in the next Test.
He decided
against bowling after consulting Cricket Australia`s medical staff,
personal physio, Viktor Popov and captain Michael Clarke, Watson said.
"I
took a lot of information in at the time, especially through the summer
having the same calf injury again and also the amount I bowled in
Hobart, that was the most I`ve ever bowled in my career in four or
five-day cricket," Watson said.
"I knew my body could handle it,
it was more so backing up to handle it again. I had to get the right
conditioning in my legs, things like running technique, doing all those
things to give myself a better chance to hold together my body when I`m
bowling.
"But I also need to be more careful in the future about
the overs I do bowl. One, I have the chance to do it more consistently
and have less chance of injury but also there were times when it
affected my batting, more so in Test cricket over the last 12 to 18
months, especially when I was opening.
"There were a number of
reasons why I made that decision, most importantly is trying to score
some runs in Test cricket as well," he said.
Sydney:
Rising Australian star Moises Henriques is set to be awarded a Cricket
Australia (CA) contract worth 190,000 dollars for his breakthrough
summer. 
Zeenews Sports Bureau
Mumbai:
Five-time champions Australia will walk in with the twin aims of
revenge and title triumph when they take on a spirited West Indies, a
team which has punched above its weight all through, in the summit clash
of the ICC Women`s Cricket World Cup here tomorrow.
