Shane Watson

Lore & Background

Watson was raised in Ipswich, Queensland, and attended St Marys Primary School and Ipswich Grammar School. He began playing cricket at an early age and represented Queensland Primary Schools in an interstate championship in Darwin in 1993. He played club cricket for the Ipswich Brothers club and Brisbane Grade Cricket for Eastern Suburbs. Watson represented Australia in the 2000 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 2000. A rule change that year made him a free agent, and he moved to Hobart, Tasmania, where he was guaranteed an immediate place in the Tasmanian state team. In half a season he scored 309 runs at an average of 51.50, including his maiden first-class century in his fifth match, and took 11 wickets at an average of 26.27.

Reader's Guide

Watson was ranked as the world's No. 1 all-rounder in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) for 150 weeks, including an all-time record of 120 consecutive weeks from 13 October 2011 to 30 January 2014. In his time playing for Australia, Watson was part of their winning squad in the Cricket World Cup two times in 2007 and 2015, along with the ICC Champions Trophy twice in 2006 and 2009. Watson was named player of the match in the final on both Champions Trophy occasions, scoring the winning run in the 2006 tournament and the winning six in the 2009 tournament. He was named player of the tournament in the IPL twice (in 2008 and 2013) and won the tournament twice (in 2008 and 2018). Watson retired from all forms of cricket in 2020.

Did You Know?

• He won the IPL twice, in 2008 with Rajasthan Royals and in 2018 with Chennai Super Kings.
• Watson made his first Test hundred on 30 December 2009 against Pakistan, remaining not out on 120.