Shane Watson's career has been dogged by injury over the last five years, but the prodigiously talented all-rounder keeps bouncing back.

He played his first Test match in almost three years when he toured India in October 2008 and played in all four matches.

Watson took 10 wickets for the series and was hailed by captain Ricky Ponting for his whole-hearted bowling performances, which featured a best of 4-42 in the second innings of the fourth Test.

He produced quality knocks of 78 in the second Test and 41 in the first, but also had four single-digit scores for the series.

Watson returned to play in the first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba but was squeezed out of the next Test and opening two games against South Africa through the presence of teammate Andrew Symonds, who was the preferred all-rounder.

Just when he appeared guaranteed of a berth in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa, it was revealed he had stress fractures of the back and missed the next two months of cricket.

Watson's first Shield match of the summer for Queensland in November 2008, taking 7-69 against SA and top scoring with 81 in the second innings.

He scored a magnificent 145 against Victoria at the MCG in his second game back from injury in March 2009, but made just 13 in the Shield final playing purely as a specialist batsman.

He played just the single one-day match in 2008-09, taking 2-41 and making 23 not out in a win over SA at the Gabba in December 2008, but could not take part in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash due to injury.

Watson initially forced his way back into the Australian one-day team in June 2008 on the back of a sensational debut season in the Indian Premier League where he was named Player of the Tournament.

Representing the Rajasthan Royals, he plundered more than 500 runs as an opener in the Twenty20 series and was an integral part of the team's championship win.

He opened for Australia in the five-match series against the West Indies, taking at least one wicket in every game and scoring 126 in the third match at St George's. He also played two ODIs in the Darwin series in September 2008.

It came after he played no representative cricket in 2007-08, but did shine for the Bulls once his body was right after Christmas 2007.

Watson won the Bulls' KFC Twenty20 Big Bash Player of the Year award for his efforts in early January 2008, and was probably the State's third best player across all forms of the game in a tough summer.

While injury cost him his place in the Australian one-day team and any chance of retrieving a Test berth, he did begin to get some continuity in his cricket after Christmas.

So valuable was Watson considered to the national one-day outfit that he was rushed straight back into the team after injuring a calf in the opening Super Eights game of the 2007 World Cup.

He missed five games, but went on to play in the triumphant final victory over Sri Lanka and was a solid contributor throughout.

He finished with 145 runs for the once out, highlighted by a belligerent 65 not out of 32 balls against New Zealand in the final round of the Super Eights stage.

Unfortunately for Watson, he tore a hamstring on the eve of the seven-match one-day series in India in September 2007 and was replaced by Bulls teammate James Hopes, who went on to make a big impression over the next six months.

Watson suffered a setback with the injury and did not play for the Bulls until mid-November 2007, although he featured in all seven Pura Cup matches from that point.

With Justin Langer's retirement from Test cricket, Watson asked to be tried as an opening batsman to offer himself as an option to the national side, but he experienced a string of failures in the role with the Bulls.

He got through the five Twenty20 matches in 13 days, including three return plane flights to various destinations, benefiting from a refined running style when bowling.

He suffered a minor tweak of the hamstring in Tasmania in late January, but returned soon enough and finished the summer strongly batting in the middle order.

The highlight was the penultimate game against SA when he scored 190 in a 262 run partnership with Chris Hartley for the seventh wicket, and took 1-28 and 2-15 in the innings victory.

Watson eked out 26 and 32 on a difficult MCG wicket to finish, and took 2-42 with his medium-fast bowling.

Keen to continue to play to get his body match-hardened, he nominated for the Indian Premier League and was a sensation.

Watson has always been an enormous cricket talent.

An Ipswich product who starred throughout an impressive junior career - he was a 15-year-old in the State Under-17 side - Watson saw the talent ahead of him at the Bulls and moved to Tasmania at 19 to satisfy first-class ambitions. He did much more than that and a year later he was thrust into the international limelight as Australia's next choice in their long quest for a successful all-rounder.

With the 2003 World Cup in view, he suffered a case of back stress fractures, which had troubled him in his youth, and was distraught at missing the tournament. Returning to Tasmania, he played mostly as a batsman as the injury healed in 2003-04, which was a stunning summer of four centuries and 983 runs.

Tired of the cold and ready for home, he returned to Queensland for the 2004-05 season and experienced a productive first summer, reaching his maiden Bulls century with 136 against Western Australia and finishing with 588 runs at 42.00 alongside 16 wickets. The haul assisted his march towards a Test debut against Pakistan as the Australian selectors tinkered with their traditional line-up at Sydney; Watson's inclusion allowed them to add Stuart MacGill and play five bowlers. After initial nerves, he compiled a satisfying 31 and opened his bowling account with the dismissal of Younis Khan.

An almost constant in the one-day side, he toured England with the limited-overs squad in 2005, but was overlooked for the Test outfit as he took up a county offer with Hampshire, where he posted his first double-century. With the value of allrounders rising in the aftermath of the Andrew Flintoff-dominated Ashes series, Watson was included for the opening two Tests of 2005-06 before injury again cut short his participation.

Playing at the Gabba against the West Indies, he had just taken his second Test wicket when he dived to stop a drive and partially dislocated his shoulder. The next two months were spent in another frustrating rehabilitation.
 
Queensland's selectors were satisfied with his fitness in January 2006 and he made his comeback in the ING Cup, and then proved his bowling was ready for the international arena with Pura Cup figures of 4-34 against New South Wales in February. After three domestic limited-overs appearances, the same number he achieved the year before, he was whisked off for the one-day leg of the South Africa tour before coming back to star in the Pura Cup Final.

In a match of many milestones for the Bulls, Watson recorded his first century on his home ground and had made it a double when he retired with leg cramps at tea on the fourth day. He left the field with his side in five-star comfort - the score was 860 following a partnership of 329 with Clinton Perren that broke the 40-year-old mark for the fourth wicket set by Peter Burge and Tom Veivers.

Watson's 201, which came from 342 balls with 23 fours and a six, continued to prove his liking for big scoring, following his Hampshire success and a 300 in his final Tasmanian club game, which he then backed up with 7-29.

A sharp bowler who can reach speeds in excess of 140kmh, he has undergone many remodels of his action to prevent further back issues. However, his main problems have come from other injuries, and he failed to finish the Bangladesh one-day series in April of 2006 as the lingering calf problem of the Pura Cup Final reappeared.

He recovered to play two matches for Australia A in the winter of 2006, scoring 161 not out and 63 not out against Pakistan A in Darwin, and taking 3-39 in the first innings of the match against India A in Cairns.

He played in Australia's title winning teams at the 2006 DLF Cup in Malaysia and Champions Trophy tournament in India, scoring three half centuries as an opener, before returning to Australia for what he hoped would be a big Ashes campaign.

Selected in the First Test 13, he sensationally strained a hamstring bowling for Queensland against WA in his sixth over of a Ford Ranger Cup match in Perth just six days out from the Test.

He re-injured it during his rehabilitation in an effort to make the third Test side and was ruled out of the Test series.