Shane Watson’s value to the Australian cricket in all three forms of the game was undeniable. He was the world’s number one all-rounder and the last player to retire from Australia’s golden era of the early 2000s.

In 2010 and 2011 Shane was awarded the illustrious Allan Border Medal as Australia’s best player after remodelling his bowling action to become a destructive and reliable competitor with both bat and ball in all forms of the game. Shane became the second ever player to win back-to-back medals.

Shane reinforced his status as one of the world’s most talented T20 players with being awarded Player of the Tournament in the ICC T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in October 2012 after securing four consecutive Man of the Match awards.  

Shane’s record in the shorter forms of the game is breathtaking. He was the fastest Australian to score 5000 runs and take 150 wickets in One Day Internationals. He backed this up in T20 cricket being the first Australian to score 6000 runs and take 200 wickets.

Appointed Vice Captain of the Australian Team between 2011-2013, Shane become Australia’s 44th Test Captain when he led the Australian Team against India in Delhi in March 2013.  

Shane played an integral part in Australia’s 5-0 Ashes Series whitewash against England in Australia during the 2013/2014 International Summer of Cricket.  

Captain of the Rajasthan Royals, Shane was also named the most valuable player in the Indian Premier League for the Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural 2008 season and again in 2013.

Most recently Shane performed as a standout all-rounder in the Australian team to take home the Cricket World Cup in 2015. Shane holds several exceptional records in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. Some of them include, the highest ODI score in a run-chase, highest one day international score by an Australian batsman, highest ODI batting average of all Australian opening batsmen who have scored over 1000 runs and highest T20I strike rate of all opening batsmen who have played over 30 matches.  

Shane signed with Big Bash League franchise Sydney Thunder in 2015 and was the Captain of the team that won the BBL that season. Shane retired from IPL and all forms of cricket on 2 November 2020.