Cameron Green: The Australian Promise Debuts in Test Cricket

Cameron Green: The New Star of Australian Cricket

Western Australia’s young all-rounder, 21-year-old Cameron Green, is set to debut for Australia at the Adelaide Oval. His much-anticipated debut has generated great excitement in the cricket world.

Highlighted Career

In first-class cricket, Green has shown outstanding performance. He has achieved five centuries in 21 matches, including a career-high of 197 runs earlier this season against New South Wales. His batting average is 55.04. In a match against Queensland at the Gabba in November 2019, he demonstrated his potential with the bat, scoring 87 and 121 runs not out, batting at numbers 8 and 9. That was also the last match in which he bowled for a year. With the ball, he averages 21.72 runs for his 33 wickets, including 5 for 24 in his first-class debut against Tasmania, against whom he also took his best figures of 6 for 30 in 2018. His career in limited-overs matches doesn’t stand out as much, although he made his ODI debut a couple of weeks ago, but that’s only in a handful of matches: nine in List A and T20. It’s with the red (and pink) ball that he’s exciting everyone at the moment.

Great Expectations

Greg Chappell has called him the “best since Ricky Ponting” in recent interviews. Chappell selected him at number 6 in the Test team immediately.

“For me, Cameron Green is the next Australian cricket superstar,” he said. “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 bat him 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 Concern Over the Recent Injury

There was a worrying moment when he was hit on the head by a Jasprit Bumrah bouncer at the SCG. He immediately left the field and was substituted from the match due to concussion. Fortunately, the blow has not caused major damage and it seems that he will comply with all Cricket Australia protocols to be able to debut.

The Dream Off-Roader?

Perhaps, but with caution. This has nothing to do with talent, but with the release restrictions due to a stress fracture in the back he suffered last year. He has been working on his action with WA bowling coach Matt Mason, and so far has 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 still shown the ability to take wickets: 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 also suggested that the bowling restrictions will be eased. “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 said, we don’t expect him to bowl a huge amount of overs with the attack we have.”

Early Debut?

In a way, yes. In fact, just a few weeks ago it seemed unlikely that he would be part of the XI at the start of the series despite having been named in the expanded squad. The preferred route was for Australia to maintain its traditional balance of six batsmen, a wicketkeeper and four bowlers. However, recently, plans have been altered due to the injuries of Warner and Pucovksi, which has led Australia to reorganize the batting order (at least for one test) and that has created the opening at number 6. That is not to say that Green doesn’t deserve it. In 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 said that he is worthy of being selected just for his batting.