SHANE WATSON describes the coming Test tour of India as "the biggest challenge I could face as a cricketer", but he may as well be talking for the entire squad.
Put simply, the Australian team has not faced an examination this daunting under Ricky Ponting's captaincy. Whereas history suggests the 2005 Ashes defeat was more a glitch than a complete systems failure - the Australians have compiled a record of 22 wins, three draws and one loss since surrendering the urn at The Oval - the retirements, injuries and emotional chaos that have engulfed the team in recent months have bestowed upon them an air of vulnerability rare in modern Australian teams.
The importance spin bowling will play in India was brutally demonstrated last week, when Australia A were dismissed for just 116 runs in the first innings of an unofficial Test against an Indian A side. Rookie spinners Mohnish Parmar and Piyush Chawla combined for seven wickets on the same Bangalore surface that will host the first Test next month, while Australia A spinners Beau Casson and Bryce McGain were struck down by injuries. Casson, the incumbent Test spinner, managed just one over for the match.
Australia's spinning options were already limited following the retirements of Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill and Brad Hogg, and will be reduced further when Andrew Symonds is ruled out of the squad for India. Symonds will wait for his preferred sports psychologist, Phil Jauncey, to return from overseas next week before embarking on the rehabilitation program set out by Cricket Australia, a mandatory condition following his expulsion from the team in Darwin.
With the Australian squad for India to be named after Australia A's second unofficial Test, which begins in Hyderabad today, the No.6 position usually occupied by Symonds will presumably fall to Watson or Simon Katich. Watson's all-round versatility would appear to give him the inside running - his inclusion has, in the past, allowed Australia to play an extra bowler - while Katich might yet be required at the top of the order should Matthew Hayden's Achilles injury continue to bother him.
"There is absolutely no doubt that, if I get the call-up, this would be the biggest challenge I could face as a cricketer," Watson said. "We've only won once there in 30-odd years as it is, and there are obviously other considerations as well this time around. I would love to go, but I am not going to spend too much time worrying about selection, like I used to. If it happens, it happens."
The wheels of fortune finally appear to be turning Watson's way. For a man whose past incarnations as an international cricketer have terminated abruptly on account of injury - not least in 2006, when he effectively opened the door for Symonds - the all-rounder's career appears set for a rapid revival.
Watson regained his place in the Australian one-day side when Hayden withdrew from the tour of the West Indies. Having since established himself as a reliable limited-overs opener, the Queenslander now stands poised to benefit from another absentee - Symonds - to reignite his Test career. "Everyone is obviously wishing the best for Roy, but if there is an opportunity there, hopefully I can take it with both hands," Watson said.
"The leadership group have made a difficult decision [to send Symonds home from Darwin], but the message they were trying to convey was that they needed everyone at 100 per cent to set a good example to the young guys."
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