'You don't always have a good game'

Australian vice captain Shane Watson has confirmed that he would return to bowling in Cape Town for the first of two T20 fixtures against South Africa.  

Following a request from Cricket Australia to rest his body during the recent Champions League, Watson was kept out of the bowling attack entirely. With the bat, Watson made just 75 runs in five innings for NSW and, according to the 30-year-old, the run of outs was no coincidence. 

Watson is adamant playing as an all-rounder gives balance to his psyche and he''s hoping he can return to form by putting energy into both areas of his game. 

"It reinforced to me exactly the reason why I love being an all-rounder because in games, you don't always have a good game, and if you''ve got two opportunities to have a decent game, it puts your mind to rest a little bit more," he said.

"If something's not going exactly how you want it to ... normally being an all-rounder you can still make a big contribution to the team's performance. That was something I was frustrated with," he added.

The opening batsman struggled with continuous injury problems early in his career but said with the occasional pit-stop like at the Champions League, he's relishing the chance to play as much cricket as possible. 

"I had to change a number of things with my body to give myself the chance to play consistently and now I'm loving the opportunity to play as much as I can because I had probably about six years where I didn''t really play that much.

"Now I'm trying to make the most of every game I can play ... because in the end I know how quickly it can get taken away," he added.

Meanwhile, Watson has praised teenage pace sensation Pat Cummins, calling him one of the most "intelligent and impressive young" players he has seen in a decade.  

Watson is backing 18-year-old NSW teammate Cummins to make his presence felt against South Africa ahead of an anticipated Australian debut in the first Twenty20 International in Cape Town on Thursday.

"He's as impressive as I've seen for any young guy coming through for the past 10 years," The Age quoted Watson, as saying. 

"Pat's a very impressive young guy ... I know what I was like when I was 18 and I definitely didn't handle myself as well as what he is. He's a really intelligent, switched on young guy and a pretty quiet, humble guy as well. So he is just taking it in his stride at the moment," he added.  

He also said that at the age of 18, Pat has a very rare talent of being able to bowl with the skill and the pace, adding that he would definitely put up a great show during the match against South Africa. 

Watson also said that his country's cricketers are shocked and disappointed over the match-fixing allegations against them.               

Insisting that the claims were shocking, he said: "They've been very disappointing and pretty shocking really to see these allegations that have come out from this court case that is going on at the moment," he said.

"It challenges the integrity of the game we all love so much. People not just in cricket but outside cricket start to question certain things that happen in games.

"In sport, crazy events sometimes do happen. You never want people questioning what exactly is going on so it's very disappointing when these things come out," he added.