Cricket Australia team performance manager PatHoward says allrounder Shane Watson's calf injury and resulting inability tobowl is adding to the selection issues for the second test against South Africain Adelaide beginning Nov. 22.
Howard said Wednesday that the national selection panelwants the Australian vice-captain to prove his fitness to play as anallrounder, indicating they're unlikely to consider him solely as a batsman forthe second of three tests. The first test ended in a draw at the Gabba inBrisbane on Tuesday.
Watson was replaced before the Brisbane test by lefthanderRob Quiney, who scored nine runs and was forced to bowl seven overs of hispart-time medium pace to help Australia get through the overs as South Africamade 450 in its first innings of the rain-affected match.
Australia coach Mickey Arthur wasn't as downbeat aboutWatson's prospects of playing in the second test.
"We'll see how that goes," Arthur said. "Hehad a bit of a run (Tuesday) and he came through that well, he's having a bowlon Friday. We'll see early next week how that's going."
There's plenty of speculation about changes in the bowlingattack, with left-arm pacemen Mitch Starc and Mitchell Johnson in the mix for arecall, and the need for a genuine allrounder if Watson — who bats in the toporder and usually supplements the pace attack with his seam bowling — is onlyconsidered as a batsman.
"We'll have to sit down and consider what we think isthe best 11 going into that Adelaide test," Arthur said, "and Shanewould come into a huge amount of consideration for that."