The Ashes: Marsh set to replace Watson as problems mount for Australia

After suffering a 169-run defeat to England in Cardiff with an entire day to spare, question marks linger over a couple of the Australian starting XI.

Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin looked all of his 37 years at times, and his costly drop on nought of first innings century-maker Joe Root might well have been the pivotal moment of the match, while Mitchell Starc is battling an ankle injury.

But it is Watson whose place appears most precarious. He pipped fellow all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to a place in Cardiff but scores of 30 and 19, coupled with some innocuous medium pace, leave him vulnerable for Thursday’s game at Lord’s.

That he was dismissed lbw twice – taking his career tally to 29 – only weakens his case.

Former Yorkshire batting great Lehmann hardly gave him cause for optimism. “At the end of day you don’t want to be getting out lbw all the time and you want to make more runs. Shane would be disappointed, so are we,” he said.

“It’s one of those things where you have to find a way and that’s something we probably didn’t do as a batting group, not just Shane.

“We’ll certainly look at the wicket and work out the best XI to win in those conditions and it means making changes, we’ll make changes.

“That won’t be an issue for the selection panel. It’s going to be a tight call heading into the second Test. We can’t control what just happened, what we can do is learn from it and make the right decisions going forward – that is selection and also the way we play.”

While Watson looked well short of his best, Starc bowled impressively throughout despite his clear discomfort in the second innings.

Australia would be loathe to leave the left-armer out after he claimed seven wickets on a tough pitch but Lehmann will not gamble on fitness.

Cardiff report: Page 4