Watson's personal batting coach defends protegee's batting technique

The personal batting coach of Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has defended his batting technique and said that Watson's leg-before-wicket problem that plagued him during the Ashes tour of England was simply a matter of weight distribution.

Watson's tendency to be trapped in front by the English attack on four occasions despite scoring 176 in the fifth Test at the Oval was much talked upon, with the player being repeatedly urged to change or improve his technique.

However, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Watson's batting coach Mark O'Neill, who is a former first-class batsman for NSW and Western Australia, defended his protegee and said that Watson went though that period because he was not properly transferring his weight.

The NSW batting coach also said that although a number of experts criticised Watson for putting his foot in the same position and getting out, ironically, Watson was doing the same thing and performing well before he left for the Indian Premier League and then England.

According to O'Neill, Watson was stepping rather than pushing off his back foot and transferring his weight, adding that a simple error like that can sometimes force a player into making errors like hitting across the line.

O'Neill, who has spent 30 years developing training techniques around 'sequence and weight distribution', hailed Watson as having the best natural style and technique of any batsman in Australia and said that Watson is mentally tough and has handled the pressure on and off the field very well.