Shane Robert Watson
Shane Robert Watson (born 17 June 1981) is a former Australian professional cricketer and captain. He played as a right-handed batsman and a right-handed fast-medium swing bowler. He debuted in 2002 in a One Day International and retired in 2016 as world No. 1 T20I all-rounder. He is the last player to retire from Australia’s golden era of early 2000s. Watson holds several records in T20Is. He held the world No. 1 position for a record 150 weeks, including a record 120 consecutive weeks (13 October 2011 30 January 2014; and 31 January 2016 26 August 2016) in T20I all-rounder rankings. He is the only player to win Australian “Player of the Year” award in all formats and won six such awards in three formats, which is the most by any player. He was declared man of the series in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 for scoring a total of 249 with an average of 49.80, while taking 11 wickets with the ball. He is the only player to win four consecutive Player of the Match Awards in ICC event history. He has also been voted the man of the tournament in the IPL a record two times, and, according to Forbes, Watson was the highest-paid non-Indian cricketer in the world for five consecutive years, 2011 to 2015.
Early career:
Shane Watson was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 2000. He started his first-class cricketing career for Tasmania after leaving his home state of Queensland, but returned to play for his native Queensland as his international career was beginning. He has also played for Hampshire in the English County Championship in 2005. He regards Terry Alderman as one of his mentors.
International career:
Watson was selected for his first Australian team in early 2002, being selected to tour South Africa with the Test team after topping the Pura Cup wicket-taking charts for Tasmania, as well as steady middle-order batting performances. Australian captain at the time Steve Waugh stated that Watson would possibly be Australia’s first genuine all rounder since Keith Miller and Alan Davidson in the 1950s. Watson expressed joy at being selected in an Australian team with Waugh, whom he cited as his idol. Watson scored an unbeaten century on his debut in a tour match, but did not play in the Tests as the selectors retained the same XI that had swept South Africa 30 in the Australian season. Watson did make his ODI debut on tour, ironically replacing Waugh, who was sacked after the team failed to make the ODI finals in the preceding Australian summer. Watson continued as a regular member of the ODI team until he suffered three stress fractures in his back, at the start of 2003, missing the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He was replaced by his Queensland teammate Andrew Symonds, who proceeded to establish his position as the all rounder after scoring 143* and 91* during the tournament.
Records:
Twenty20 International:
Held world No. 1 position for a record 150 weeks, including a record 120 consecutive weeks (13 Oct 2011 – 30 Jan 2014; and 31 Jan 2016 – 26 August 2016) in Twenty20 International (T20I) all-rounder rankings.
Only player to have held number 1 ranking for both batting and all-rounder rankings in T20I.
Highest rating for T20I All-Rounder Rankings with a rating of 557, which is 116 points higher than the second best.
Only player in history to have topped runs, wickets and sixes charts after 24 games of a tournament.At the completion of the Group and Super Eight stages of 2012 World T20, watson had the most runs, wickets and sixes.
Only player to post a half-century and take three wickets in the same match three times in T20I.
Only player to score a century and have taken four wickets in an innings in T20I.
Highest T20I strike rate of all opening batsmen who have played over 30 matches.
Only player to win four consecutive Man of the Match awards in ICC event history.
First and only player to score a hundred and take a wicket in the same T20I,Highest score by a captain,Only Player to score a ton on T20I captaincy debut.
Most wickets, sixes by an Australian in T20I. Most runs, wickets, sixes by an Australian at World T20.
One Day International:
Highest One Day International (ODI) batting average of all Australian opening batsmen who have scored over 1000 runs.
Highest ODI score in a run-chase. Highest percentage of runs in an ODI innings for a team score of at least 100 runs.
Highest ODI score, most sixes in an innings, by an Australian.
