Shane Watson may have sounded brash on the eve of the first One-Day International of the ICC Super Series when he declared that his batting is up to being in Australia's top six and bowling has improved.
Had the World XI taken him seriously they may not have gone down by a whopping margin of 93 runs in the opening match of the series at the Telstra Done in Melbourne on Wednesday.
The Australia all-rounder grabbed three wickets for 43 runs as the highly-vaunted World XI batting line-up crumbled to 162 all out in the 43rd over, in reply to Australia's 255 for eight.
Watson's victims included England's Ashes hero Kevin Pietersen, World XI top scorer Kumara Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and and World XI's South African skipper Shaun Pollock.
Pietersen was Watson's first victim. The South Africa-born England player missed a delivery that dipped in was hit on the knee-roll to be adjudged leg before wicket.
Encouraged by that success, he had left-hander Sangakkara, who was blazing along, flashing at point to a ball that flew into the safe hands of a diving captain Ricky Ponting.
Then came the best of his dismissals, when he brought down the stumps with a direct hit from 35 metres to send the World XI captain back to the pavilion and end whatever hopes of a late fightback the World XI may have entertained.
Fresh from a country stint with Hampshire, Watson, who says he is working on being an all-rounder like Andrew Flintoff, will be looking to carry the good showing that won him the man of the match in the next two matches on Friday and Sunday, before the six-day Test that follows.
