COMMENT

For the good of Australia's bid to win their first travelling Ashes campaign in four attempts next winter a reshuffle of the batting order should occur immediately. The Boxing Day Test should herald Joe Burns being eased into the team at No. 5, Shaun Marsh promoted to three and Shane Watson made to vie for the sole all-rounder berth at six.

The central player in the reshuffle is Watson.

The 33-year-old is a lightning rod for public criticism, to the extent many cannot bear to accept that his medium-fast bowling is an asset to Australia's Test attack. But it is not an asset valuable enough to excuse his fitful good performances with the bat.

The time where the biggest problem surrounding Watson was his inability to convert half-centuries into centuries has long passed, to the point he should no longer be a frontline candidate for the No.3 berth in the series beginning next July in England.

When selectors shunted him into the opening role midway through the 2009 series it was a masterstroke. In his first 18 months in the role he averaged just over 50, and was only dismissed on average every 97 deliveries. Across his first 36 innings atop the order he faced 100 deliveries on 14 occasions.

For all the condemnation of his conversion rate in that time — 13 times to 50 but only twice on to a century — it was taken for granted he would take the shine off the new ball and give you somewhere between 40 and 70, a good platform for his teammates to capitalise upon.

Watson's woes began on the 2011 tour of Sri Lanka. While his first 18 months as a Test opener had been excellent, the next 18 months saw his averages for runs (24.12) and balls faced per dismissal (50) halve, eventually prompting moves to three, four and five.

When Australia returned to England for the 2013 Ashes they removed Ed Cowan as opener to give Watson another chance at rediscovering his confidence there. It backfired. In three Tests, the last of which ended with him moving to four to accommodate David Warner's return, he averaged a paltry 24.33. He was also dismissed every 37 deliveries, unacceptably frequent for an opener.

Watson has the technique to open the innings. His record of being bowled only thrice in Tests in the past three years demonstrates how he did so well in that initial 18-month stint. The problem of late has been composure and concentration – specifically, his lack of them, typically in offering catches.

Since the fourth Test of that series Watson has, when fit, batted at either three or four in all but one innings (in Cape Town, when he clubbed 40 from 32 deliveries). His batting average of 39.68 in that time is credible, but excluding his century in the last Ashes Test of 2013 it falls to 32.11.

Even with 247 deliveries he faced during that bludgeoning innings of 176, when he faced 247 deliveries and tormented debutant spinner Simon Kerrigan, his record of being dismissed every 60 deliveries, or 50 excluding that century, is not a patch on what he was producing five years ago.

In South Africa, selectors decided Watson had to be bowling to merit a Test berth, then decided to bring him back at three in place of the axed Alex Doolan for this series against India. The injury to Mitch Marsh has earned him a reprieve for at least Boxing Day, but once the younger all-rounder regains fitness only one of he and Watson should play in the same team - at No. 6, where their lusty hitting is best deployed.

Imminent debutant Burns could thrive straight away at No. 3, but the record of young Australian batsmen over the past 25 years suggest he would be better off with an apprenticeship in the middle order, an opportunity not afforded to Usman Khawaja, Rob Quiney and Doolan.

Justin Langer batted in the top three for his entire career, but had to wait two years between his sixth and seventh Tests. Ricky Ponting (66 innings), Damien Martyn (40), Michael Clarke (26) and, as of last week, Steve Smith (43) are players who have benefited from being shielded from the top four for their entry to Tests.

Smith may be a long-term No. 3, but moving him from five to four to three in the space of a fortnight is a leap the new captain should not feel compelled to take. Instead, he should deploy Shaun Marsh.

Accusations the left-hander is treated unduly favourably by selectors could be countered with a stint at three that would, ideally, stretch until the Ashes. Three of his best innings in Tests — 141 and 81 versus Sri Lanka and 44 versus South Africa — came at No. 3, while the other in Centurion, when he scored 148 in February, was comparable because he entered in the ninth over with Australia 2-24 against the Proteas.

Even though Shaun Marsh, who was first deployed at first drop in 2006, has not regularly occupied that position since 2006, the 31-year-old is experienced enough to be given that significant responsibility.

Should the enigmatic batsman fail badly, Australia could turn to Smith or even Burns for the Ashes. Better that than persist with Watson in the top three where his restraint cannot be relied upon; better use him at six where he can bowl more and have more licence to punish an opposition attack.