SHANE Watson has achieved one of his goals for the year, and now he has set his sights on achieving another. Following his maiden international hundred in the third one3-dayer against West Indies, the all-rounder said he was looking forward to regaining a place in the Australia Test side in the near future.
Watson played the last of his three Tests against West Indies three years ago at Brisbane, but he has been a regular face in Australia limited-overs teams.
"For me, my goal was to make it back into the ODI team, and to get a belated call to duty has been a lot of fun,'' he said.
"But my goal is to be playing in both forms of the game because I love the longer version of the game, especially for the mental side of it, and I know that to get back into the Test side is to play ODI cricket and perform and to see what happens from there.
"I'll keep my fingers crossed, and if things keep progressing the way they have, this will hopefully happen in the near future.''
Watson hit 126 from 122 balls to earn the man-of-the-match award and power Australia to a seven-wicket victory at the Queen's Park Stadium.
Since playing in the final of the World Cup last year in the Caribbean, Watson made only a solitary appearance for Australia in the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa before a hamstring injury sidelined him for most of the Aussie summer.
But Watson reminded the national selectors of his effectiveness, when he played injury-free during the inaugural Indian Premier League, and proceeded to win the Most Valuable Player award.
When Matthew Hayden had to return home to seek treatment on his right Achilles heel, Watson was the natural choice for the Australia selectors.
"Fingers crossed, I'm doing everything I possibly can to keep myself injury free,'' Watson said.
"But it's professional sports, and no matter how hard you try, things can sometimes go in a way that you do not want them to. I feel I am on top of my game and I have had some awesome guidance over the last year to improve my game.''
Watson indicated his time away from the game had been spent wisely. He has had strong inputs from Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons and former Windies coach Bennett King which has helped him to fortify his batting.
"The freedom with which I can score now is the biggest improvement,'' he said.
"Before I was very structured in my batting and I probably couldn't hit certain shots that I can now. I have had some pretty amazing coaches work with me to really free up my game and to let my talent show.''
Australia captain Ricky Ponting also praised Watson for making a strong return to the ODI side and looks forward to more things from him.
"I expect Shane to bat at the top of the order and score a hundred for us, and when he comes on to bowl, to bowl his six or eight overs economically and get wickets,'' Ponting said.
"This is what we expect in the Australian team. It's not just a fluke that we have these guys come in and do well. They all put in hard work to make sure they are able to fulfil whatever role we want them to in the team.''
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