Shane Watson says Michael Clarke fit for the finals

Shane Watson says Michael Clarke fit for the finals

Australia’s all-rounder Shane Watson has revealed that team-mate Michael Clarke will lead the side in the first final of the Commonwealth Bank Series against Sri Lanka. 

Clarke suffered a back injury during the triangular series against India and Sri Lanka, thus he was rested by Cricket Australia (CA). In his absence, Watson took charge of the team for a couple of games before the finals.

However, the veteran all-rounder was pleased that the regular skipper was returning to the side after regaining complete fitness. 

The flamboyant player will now focus on his batting performance, as he has been given a new role of playing as the first drop. 

He said, "At the moment that’s the way things are being planned out, for me to bat at three, which I enjoy. It gives me a slightly different role compared to what I’m used to. I feel I’ve got the experience to be able to do a really good job there.
It gives our openers that little bit more of a licence to be able to take the bowlers on with a bit more depth in our batting order. That’s the way things are looking at the moment."

Watson led his side to one victory over India, but was unable to repeat the same against Sri Lanka. However, he was extremely happy with the way his team-mates performed.

The 30-year-old praised all his players, especially David Hussey, who has been scoring runs consistently throughout the series.

"Dave has been absolutely brilliant throughout this whole summer," Watson said. "To be able to see how cleanly he hits the ball, I’ve seen it so much in domestic cricket, to see him put that consistently onto the international stage, is great
for us. We just needed one guy to stick with him for that little bit longer [in Friday’s match], because for him to even give us a chance like he did to win the game showed the quality of his innings."

The first final of the CB series will be played on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at Brisbane Cricket Ground.

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Posted by Waqar Masood on Mar 2 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry