Davidson fears allrounder drought

Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds should not be forced into the allrounder's role © Getty Images

Australia's answer to an allrounder of Andrew Flintoff's calibre may not lie in the national or domestic sides, according to Alan Davidson, Australia's last great allrounder. Davidson, the first Test player to take 10 wickets and make 100 runs in a match in the famous tied Test against the West Indies in 1960-61, has encouraged the national selectors to look further than the current crop.

"I think the selectors are on the right track but should also be looking at people in the Australian Under-19s. In the meantime we just need to be patient," Davidson, 76, told the Sydney Morning Herald. "People like Andrew Flintoff take years to develop. He's done a lot of hard work and had a lot of expert coaching. That's the difference between the superstars and the others."

In Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson, Australia currently have two potential greats in the making, but the players now find themselves thrust into the role of allrounder in the longer format of the game. "That's a very difficult thing to achieve," said Davidson, a former national selector. "There are prospects, but nobody who shows enormous potential. I think Watson's a very fine young batsman but he's got an awful lot to learn about bowling."

Both men have been given limited opportunities to prove themselves in Tests and Davidson said there was little gain in contriving an allrounder if there was not one commanding national selection.

Davidson, who aggregated 1328 runs and took 186 wickets in 44 Tests, added that a true allrounder should be able to take five wickets in an innings and hit 70 or 80 when the situation demanded it. "In my view our last real allrounder was Gary Gilmour, but he had specialists like Dennis Lillee and Greg Chappell around him who were great, and there wasn't so much need for an allrounder." Watson batted at No.7 behind Adam Gilchrist and bowled two overs in the first Test against the West Indies at Brisbane before breaking down with a shoulder injury, while Symonds's first Test innings in almost two years was foiled by a running mix-up with Brad Hodge in Hobart. Neither Symonds nor Watson have contributed much with the ball, despite bowling first change, and Davidson is of the view that they should play as batsmen.