Image courtesy of: Sydney Morning Herald

“Our first priority is to try and get him back as a batter”

Australia all-rounder Shane Watson’s calf injury seems to have taken a turn for the worse as he has been ruled out for the first Test against South Africa, which gets underway on February 12 in Centurion.

With Watson definitely out of the first Test and possibly for the entire series, it seems that all-rounder Moises Henriques and batsman Phillip Hughes will be battling against each other to replace him in the Test squad.

“We thought ‘He’s had this before, let’s just nurse it’,” Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said. “He batted yesterday and was fine, and we’ve been building up his intensity. Today we were trying to get him up to match level…and he struggled with that today. He could feel it. We just don’t think he he’s going to be right for the first Test. We need a few more days now to let him recover and start up again.

“Hopefully he gets to the point where he’s able to train unrestricted by two or three days’ out from the second Test, which is what we were planning to do here, and then being able to reproduce that two or three times and be confident he can get through a game.”

It is also understood that Watson is not only having troubles batting and bowling, but running as well.

“There is usually a bit of a lag, because running is generally a bit easier than bowling,” Kountouris said. “Our first priority is to try and get him back as a batter [and] give the selectors that option.

“He was very disappointed obviously, as we all are. We were very happy we got everyone through the past Ashes, and Watto himself hasn’t missed a game through injury for a very long time. It’s disappointing, but it’s part of the game.”