Cameron Green: The Young Marvel Ready for His Australian Debut
The 21-year-old
allrounder from Western Australia, Cameron Green, is ready to make his debut for Australia at the Adelaide Oval. His expected debut generates great anticipation in the cricket world.
A Promising Career
In first-class cricket, Green has shown exceptional performance. He has accumulated five centuries in 21 matches, including an impressive 197, his personal best, earlier this season against New South Wales. His batting average is 55.04. In November 2019, in a match against Queensland at the Gabba, he demonstrated his worth with the bat, scoring 87 and 121 runs not out, batting at positions 8 and 9. That was also the last match in which he bowled for a year. With the ball, he averages 21.72 for his 33 wickets, including 5 for 24 in his first-class debut against Tasmania, against whom he also achieved his personal best of 6 for 30 in 2018. His career in short-format matches is not as outstanding, although he debuted in ODIs a couple of weeks ago, but he has only played a few matches: nine in List A and T20.
Great Expectations
Greg Chappell has called him “the best since Ricky Ponting” in recent interviews. Green is expected to be a key figure in the Australian team.
“For me, Cameron Green is the next Australian cricket superstar,” said Chappell. “He’s a real prospect with the bat and ball, but I think his future is as a batsman who can offer some quality overs. Cameron is a batsman with exceptional talent. At 6 feet 7 inches, he could become something very special. I would put him to bat at number 6 to start, but I think number 4 is his long-term position. The sooner he plays at this level, the sooner he will become the player he should be.”
Greg Chappell
The Recent Injury
A worrying moment was when Green was hit on the head by a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah at the SCG. He had to leave the field and was substituted for concussion, in addition to undergoing scans that ruled out any fracture. Fortunately, the blow did not cause major damage and it seems that he will comply with all Cricket Australia protocols to be able to debut.
The Dream Allrounder?
Green has been limited in his bowling due to a stress fracture in his back that he suffered last year. He has been working on his technique with WA bowling coach Matt Mason and has so far been limited to four-over spells. This season he has not bowled more than eight overs in a day in match conditions. However, he has shown his wicket-taking ability: he claimed two in the second innings against the Indians at Drummoyne Oval and produced a beauty to dismiss Shubman Gill before his injury at the SCG.
Tim Paine suggested that the bowling restrictions will be relaxed. “I think he’ll bowl a little bit more than that, once you’re selected in a Test match, you’re ready to play. That being said, we don’t expect him to bowl a huge amount of overs with the attack we’ve got.”
An Anticipated Debut?
In a way, yes. Only a few weeks ago it seemed unlikely that he would be part of the XI at the start of the series despite having been included in the extended squad. However, injuries to Warner and Pucovksi have led to a restructuring of Australia’s batting order, creating an opportunity for Green in the number 6 position. This does not mean that Green does not deserve it. Based on his current form, it could easily be said that he is among Australia’s top six batsmen, and Justin Langer and national selector Trevor Hohns have stated that he deserves to be selected just for his batting.
