Watson won't give up bowling

Shane Watson says there is no chance he would consider giving up bowling this early in his career, although he concedes Test cricket is on the backburner for him after his latest hamstring injury. Watson hopes to be back playing for Queensland within a month but will not rush himself into contention for international selection before he is ready.

His former coach John Buchanan said the allrounder should consider playing as a specialist batsman to ease the strain on his fragile body. "No way, that's never crossed my mind," Watson told AAP. "I love bowling too much. I'm still only 26 and I've still got quite a few years under my belt."

But the big question is how much cricket he will play in those few years. Watson missed the entire Ashes campaign last season with a series of recurring hamstring problems and sat out the start of the ICC World Twenty20, also with hamstring trouble. The muscle failed him again in his comeback match as he broke down while bowling his fourth over.

Buchanan and Jimmy Maher, Watson's captain at Queensland, both said he should consider giving up bowling, while Ian Chappell said Australia could not risk choosing Watson again until he had survived a full domestic season without injury. "It's not annoying everybody giving me their opinions," Watson said. "It's amazing for me. It's pretty overwhelming how many people are concerned and care about me."

Watson said he would not make the same mistake as last year when he kept pushing himself to get fit as each Ashes Test approached, only to aggravate his injury on several occasions. "Test cricket is on the backburner for me," he said. "The most important thing for me is to get some cricket under my belt, get some workload with my bowling and play some games."

Trefor James, Australia's team doctor, said Cricket Australia would consider sending Watson to Germany to consult a soft-tissue expert who this year successfully treated the ongoing hamstring problems of the Australian rules footballer Max Rooke. "It's very minor but I think he needs to have a continuous time playing," James told the Age, "partly for his confidence and partly for the benefit of the team that he is not having to go off during games all the time."