Watson loses laptop, but regains fitness

Shane Watson had his house broken into last week, but he is more concerned about breaking back into the Queensland Pura Cup team. Watson will play only as a batsman when the Bulls face Western Australia in Brisbane on Monday in a familiar comeback from injury.

Nagging leg problems cut him from the national one-day team and have reduced his appearances for Queensland, but he is confident he can stay on the field for an extended period. "I've only been out for two weeks [with a hamstring problem] so I haven't lost much time this time around," he told the Sun-Herald. "It's been extremely frustrating. I felt like I was starting to find some really good form, so to be cut down by another minor injury was very annoying."

He felt he was "close to getting it right" with his fragile body. "It says a lot that I was able to get back so quickly this time after a hamstring strain," he said. "My inner-core strength used to be really poor, but I've been working on getting that strong. I'm doing a lot of Pilates. I'm doing less gym work and more running to get my body used to what it needs to do."

Watson, 26, said he had never considered quitting and the problems had never become too hard. "It's definitely gotten me down," he said. "I'm excited about what might be coming up, not worried about what's happened before."

Last week he had his laptop, music player and $700 stolen from his home but wasn't too bothered. "If they needed my stuff that badly," he said, "they can have it."