The talented all-rounder can't stay on the park so because he has a burly frame and a lantern jaw, his critics have blamed his bulky muscles.

No wonder everyone is terrified of following the Shane Watson (or Shoaib Akhtar) example of having too many muscles and constant injuries.

Because there is no link between muscle size and injury risk.

The rapier-like Michael Vaughan was equally injury prone in his career. How about Shane Bond, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra and even the tiny Sachin? All have had more than their fair share of injuries without a passing comment at their bulk.

Fact is; you can't tell how injury prone anyone might be just by looking at their muscles.

Being skinny is just as risky.

Players can have a barrel chest and be injury-free. In fact, being strong helps your game. Shane couldn't bowl in the 130-140kph range and smash sixes into the crowd if he was weak.

The real trick is to be as strong as Shane without having his proneness to pulling a fetlock every time you look at a cricket bat.

And the way to do that is a program that includes being fast and agile and flexible as well as strong combined with a healthy diet.

Cricket fitness isn't always about going for the biggest muscles or the most sweat in a session, it's about being a well rounded cricketer who can run, jump, throw, catch, bowl and have a range of batting shots.

And if you can do that you will be able to take the good bits from Shane Watson while leaving his injuries behind.

If you want to know more about building up your strength, power, speed, agility and mobility for cricket then enrol on the complete training course by county strength coach Rob Ahmun: Strength and Conditioning for Cricket at All Levels

image credit: pj_in_oz