Watson gets first taste of leadership

New Australian cricket skipper Michael Clarke's chronic back issue has put the focus on L-plate leader Shane Watson earlier than expected.

Star all-rounder Watson was handed a surprise first taste of captaincy on Wednesday when he led Australia's one-day team onto the field in a practice match against Queensland in Brisbane.

Clarke was forced to retire hurt with back stiffness after scoring 13 from 31 balls and watched on as Australia defended 8-263 (46 overs) at Allan Border Field.

Former captain Ricky Ponting was also on the sidelines with a calf problem which restricted him to the nets on the final day of a two-week training camp.

Coach Tim Nielsen stresses both batsmen were rested as a precaution and he has no concerns about either ahead of next month's tour to Sri Lanka.

"(Clarke) pulled up a little stiff which is why he retired and we're just going to take the opportunity to get everybody out there," Nielsen told AAP.

"(Ponting) has had a bit of a sore calf as well which we're just being careful about.

"Really, it's a training day for us and, if these guys were like this at training, we wouldn't expect them to train so we certainly won't put them through the fielding."

Watson, appointed vice-captain in March, has been Australia's best player in all forms of the game over the past two years but has never captained a senior team in his career.

His appointment had raised questions whether he could handle the extra responsibility of leadership on top of being the side's opening batsman and fourth seamer.

But Nielsen said Watson is a true back-up to Clarke, who must manage his back problem for the rest of his career, and is confident the 30-year-old will cope with the extra pressure and responsibility.

"Very much so," the coach said. "Selectors don't just give people the vice-captaincy with the thought you deserve it because you played well.

"It's an idea that if something does happen to the captain, who is the person we feel can take over the reins and do a good job?

"We can't forget that we have people with the experience of (Brad) Haddin and Ponting still around the team and, I'm sure if Shane needs to, he will lean on them pretty strongly and also Michael Hussey.

"While he's the nominated one and probably giving him the opportunity is a longer-term view, he certainly won't be on his own out there if he captains the side."

David Hussey was the most impressive performer with the bat, slogging the Bulls' bowlers all over the small oval, blasting 76 off 41 balls, including seven fours and three sixes.

He combined with brother Mike (46 off 58) in a stand of 91. Shaun Marsh hit 47 off 66 balls while young Bulls' spinner Jason Floros took 4-25.

Animated in the field, Watson appeared to enjoy the challenge and pulled the right rein in bowling himself late to take 3-26 as he and David Hussey (2-13) prevented the Bulls (9-229) challenging Australia's total.

Clarke was there to clap Watson off the field and pat him on the back.

"Well done skip, one from one," he said.

We will need a team effort to beat India : Katich

From individual to a team performance — that is what the transition has been in the Australian squad, feels Simon Katich. “We no longer have Hayden, Waughs (Steve and Mark), Gilchrist or bowlers like Warne and McGrath to bail us out in a crunch situation. On this tour, and in subsequent tours also, it will take all the 11 players performing to get the desired results,” he said. 

Katich, who is a senior member of the squad with 52 Tests experience, feels last time Australia lost trying to play catch up.

“We were on the back foot from the day we lost the toss. Chasing 400-plus scores on cracking sub-continent wickets is never easy. We have talked about these scenarios a lot in the meetings. But in the end, we will have to perform and there is no alternative to it,” said Katich, who is returning after an eight-week break to overcome shoulder injury.

Katich got the required confidence and feel of the wicket with a century on Day 1 of the three-day Board President XI match against some ordinary bowling from their hosts. He and Shane Watson’s ton must have put some worries in Ricky Ponting’s head to rest.

“Watson and I have enjoyed batting together and our main focus has been to build in blocks of tens and give a good platform for our team,” said Katich who at 35 is perhaps on his last trip to India.

The Aussies were done in by the reverse swing, which was exploited to the hilt by the Indian bowlers and that is something which is still playing in Katich’s mind. The problem is compounded by the fact that many of the players are still to play a Test match in India.

“You don’t have much of a chance if the ball is reversing late. We have spoken about this in the meetings and also about the batting in trying conditions. We have practiced with scruff older balls and that is what you can do to prepare against it,” he said.

Watson,Rahane crack tons as game ends in draw

Australians 505 for 8 dec. (Watson 115, Katich 104 retd*, North 124 retd*) and 187 for 6 dec. (Watson 104*, Chawla 3-64) drew with Board President's XI 177 (Chawla 82, Hilfenhaus 5-47) and 174 for 0 (Rahane 113*, Pujara 52*)

Scorecard

The Australians like to mentally disintegrate the visiting captains, while the Indians - lesser known domestic batsmen, that is - go after visiting spinners. For the third season in a row now, the Board President's XI batsmen have done the job of softening up the opposition's spinners ahead of a Test series.

Two years ago, when Australia visited India, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh took Jason Krejza's 31 wicketless overs for 199 runs. Last season South Africa's Paul Harris was unsuccessful as Manish Pandey and Abhishek Nayar hit him for 71 runs in 12 overs. Over the last three days, which have been almost ideal preparation for Australia for the upcoming two-Test series, Nathan Hauritz has emerged as a concern.

In the first innings, Piyush Chawla, known more for his legspin, repeatedly danced down the pitch and either pushed him for singles or lofted him over his head. In the second, Ajinkya Rahane, the Mumbai batsman, scored a stroke-filled century in two hours. Hauritz's figures over the two innings: 24 overs, 93 runs, and one wicket. Steven Smith's flat legbreaks at the other end extracted even less respect. Chawla hit him for a six in his first over in India, and he went for 55 in his 10 overs.

Before Rahane entertained the small crowd at the Sector 16 Stadium, though, the Australians had had another good day of practice. They took the remaining four BP XI wickets for 34 runs, and Shane Watson went onto score a second century in the match, hitting 18 boundaries in his unbeaten 104 off 121 deliveries.

Gautam Gambhir, Simon Katich and Marcus North chose to go easy on mild injury scares. Gambhir, who was hit in his right hand by a rising delivery from Bill Hilfenhaus on day 2, chose to stay away from action. Katich, who has a bruised thumb, opted out of batting but came on to field. North, who has a mild back strain, stayed away too.

The match was always going to be a draw when the Australians gave BP XI just a session to bat. Rahane's strokeplay, however, made sure it was an entertaining draw. His hook off Peter George, which went for six, and punches through the covers stood out.

While it could be argued that this session was just low-key practice, and not much should be read into it, Hauritz would have desperately wanted to improve on his first-innings effort.

Watson, Katich power Australians

Australians 319 for 1 (Watson 115, Katich 104 retd*) v Indian Board President's XI

Scorecard

The Australians had a satisfactory first day of cricket on their tour of India. Two of their batsmen scored centuries without much fuss, and two others seemed on the way. On a pitch that was expectedly slow, thanks to unseasonal rains until earlier this week, Shane Watson and Simon Katich hardly looked like getting out, and Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke followed suit with an unbroken 87-run partnership. It is unlikely now that Australia will consider splitting Watson and Katich at the top during this tour.

The first day of the game didn't bring any good news for India. Not only did the tourists look in form, India's two Test bowlers - Sreesanth and Pragyan Ojha - bowled 34 overs without a wicket. Apart from bowling 13 unimpressive overs and sliding down the leg side often, Sreesanth let slip four boundaries in the field. The first of those could have been a catch at backward point. The last left him grimacing with a cramp in the calf, and he hobbled off the field, with the new ball just around the corner. However, he is likely to bowl on the second day.

Ojha, too, seemed to have picked a stomach ache in the afternoon session. That Ojha, who was strictly steady, was the pick of the bowlers says how good the day was for the Australians. The only time their balcony looked concerned - and that too mildly - was when a bus tyre went flat outside the stadium with a loud explosion. Even that ended with some in their support staff taking pictures. By then, without any explosiveness, their openers were entrenched in the middle.

Katich, who was quicker than Watson, didn't make the smoothest of starts, though. He had trouble adjusting to the slowness of the pitch, and his bat face closed early on a few occasions when facing the left-arm seamer Jaidev Unadkat. Apart from that, none of three fast bowlers posed any threat. Neither of the openers was made to play straight, and neither was looking to take any risks.

Katich looked more comfortable against spin than Watson. He was quick to late-cut, and flick into the leg side with both spinners turning the ball into his pads. Watson was beaten on a few occasions by Piyush Chawla's legbreaks. Ojha bowled tightly - his 21 overs went for just 23 - and had a couple of close lbw shouts against Watson, but the batsman was well forward on both occasions.

The battle between Ojha and Katich was more interesting. Katich preferred staying back and cutting, Ojha fancied hitting that in-between length and sneaking in through the gap or making Katich play on. Katich did chop a few off the underside edge, but none of them was close to his stumps.

Both the batsmen had reached similar scores at similar strike-rates by lunch, but Katich took the lead after the interval. Just after reaching his fifty, he edged Unadkat twice, first wide of second slip and then just short of him. That, along with a tough run-out chance against Watson, which Wriddhiman Saha missed, was the closest the BP XI came to a wicket.

Tim Nielsen, the coach, realised these two were not going to get out, and took turns to give Clarke, Marcus North, Phil Hughes and Steven Smith throw-downs in the adjoining nets. By the time he returned from the nets, Katich had reached his century and Watson was nearing it. During that middle session, Gautam Gambhir, the home captain, got Ravindra Jadeja to keep signalling towards the dressing room for Ojha to return on the field. "Pet mein dard [Stomach ache]," came the reply. Not that Ojha would have been lining up to bowl.

Watson went to tea five short of his century, and came back with a new partner as the Australians decided that Katich had had enough of a look-in. Perhaps Watson knew the same would happen to him once he reached the hundred, or it was his usual nerves in the 90s, he took 17 more balls to raise three-figures. As he got there with a sweep, he seemed to have done a hamstring. He got back up, though, and opened fire at Chawla, hitting him for 14 runs in the next over. At the end of it, though, he was bowled while going for another boundary.

The others too batted without much trouble. Ponting made a slightly iffy start, not reading the spinners' lengths early, but Chawla let him get away by feeding him two long-hops early on. The first ball Clarke faced on the tour, he jumped out of the crease, got to the pitch of the ball, and then pushed it wide of mid-off for one. There was to be more exemplary footwork later in the innings, when he charged at Chawla and lofted him for a straight boundary. The next ball, he seemed to be charging down again, but transferred his weight back in a flash to cut a slightly flat delivery for four.

The new ball, take for the last four overs of the day, didn't have much impact either, and "retired not out" is likely to be the most favoured way of changing batsmen on the second day.