Get around Bushrangers all-rounder @danchristian54 who has been re-called to the Australian ODI squad #vicsdoitbetter pic.twitter.com/opHKPLUVof — Victoria Bushrangers (@bushrangers) January 15, 2014

The importance of Shane Watson to Australia’s bid to topple the world’s top Test nation next month has been underscored with the decision to rest the all-rounder from a bulk of the current one-day series against England.

Australian selectors have announced that Watson will miss the upcoming Carlton Mid ODI Series matches in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth and will rejoin the squad for the final match in Adelaide on Australia Day.

To cover his absence, Victorian all-rounder Dan Christian has been added to the Australian squad following his recent impressive performances for the Brisbane Heat in the KFC Big Bash League.

Christian will train with his new teammates in Brisbane this morning ahead of match two of the five-game series tomorrow at the Gabba.

Australian coach Darren Lehmann recently aired his belief that he wants to field five specialist bowlers in every Test match because that gives his team the best chance of capturing all 20 opposition wickets.

To that end, Watson’s presence is crucial to the balance of the Test team as was seen during the recent Ashes series when he limped from the field on day one of the Boxing Day Test with groin soreness and was under an injury cloud for the subsequent Test in Sydney.

While passed fit to play in the final match of that whitewash series, speculation over his fitness highlighted the value he adds with at least one additional change being mooted to Australia’s starting XI for that match to cover the dual role he plays with bat and ball.

Had Watson failed to make muster, it was likely batsman George Bailey would also have lost his spot to allow for substitute all-rounder James Faulkner to bat in the middle-order while specialist number three Alex Doolan was placed on standby to fill the vacancy at the top of the order.

“Given Shane’s workload in the past 12 months we consider it would be beneficial for him to have a longer break and continue his training program at home in Sydney ahead of the final ODI and the tour of South Africa,” Lehmann said.

“Dan Christian, who has been in excellent form in recent weeks, has been added to the ODI Squad to provide an all-round option in Shane’s absence.”

The role of all-rounder will take on added significance in the three-Test series against South Africa, the world’s number one team, following the recent retirement of the Proteas’ gun all-rounder Jacques Kallis.

A prolonged debate as to how Kallis might be suitably replaced without drastically altering South Africa’s team balance has raged since he announced last month that he would not be available for the Australian series.

His absence leaves a huge hole given his remarkable Test record of 13,000-plus runs, 292 wickets and 200 catches.

While Watson is not rated in the same class as Kallis – indeed, very few other Test cricketers over the course of 135 years can be – he performs a similar function in that he is a powerful but technically-correct batsman whose useful seam bowling provides an opportunity to rest the frontline quicks without gifting easy runs.

Watson bowled just 13.4 overs in the final two Ashes Tests and five overs in Australia’s victory over England in the Carlton Mid Series opener at the MCG last Sunday.

Christian, who has played 17 one-day internationals for Australia the most recent of which was against Pakistan in Sharjah in 2012, has made unbeaten scores of 70 and 68 in recent BBL appearances in addition to bowling economically.

The highlight of his ODI career undoubtedly came in March 2012 when he captured a hat-trick against Sri Lanka at the MCG.