The young all-rounder from Western Australia, 21-year-old Cameron Green, is set to debut for Australia at the Adelaide Oval. This is one of the most anticipated first appearances in recent times. Here’s a little about him.
How has your career been so far?
In outstanding first-class cricket. He has five centuries in 21 matches, including a personal best of 197 earlier this season against New South Wales, the most recent being against the Indians last week, and has a batting average of 55.04. In a match against Queensland at the Gabba in November 2019, he demonstrated what he could achieve with the bat, scoring 87 and 121 not out batting at numbers 8 and 9. That was also the last match in which he bowled for a year. With the ball (and more on that in a minute) he averages 21.72 for his 33 wickets, which include 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 white-ball cricket career doesn’t stand out as much, although he made his ODI debut a couple of weeks ago, however, that’s only a handful of matches: nine in both List A and T20. It’s with the red (and pink) ball that he’s exciting everyone at the moment.
Are there high expectations?
You could say so. Greg Chappell has called him the “best since Ricky Ponting” in recent interviews and in June (when there was no cricket) the scenario of Australia playing both Test and T20I on the same day was elaborated, which could happen next year. Chappell picked him at number 6 in the Test team immediately.
“For me, Cameron Green is the next Australian cricket superstar,” he said. “He’s a genuine prospect with bat and ball, but I think his future is as a batsman who can offer some quality overs. Cameron is a batsman with rare 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
What about the recent injury?
That seemed like a bad moment when he was hit on the side of the head by a drive from Jasprit Bumrah at the SCG. He immediately left the field and was substituted in the match for concussion and also underwent scans that ruled out any fractures. Fortunately, the blow has not caused major damage (unlike Will Pucovski, Green has no history of concussions) and it seems that he will pass all Cricket Australia protocols to be able to debut.
Is this the all-terrain vehicle Australia has dreamed of?
Maybe, but with a bit of caution. That has nothing to do with talent, but he has had restricted bowling loads due to a stress fracture in his back that he suffered last year. He has undergone work on his action 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 still shown the ability to pick up 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 relaxed. “I think he’ll bowl a few 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.”
Has his debut arrived sooner than expected?
In a way, yes. In fact, just a few weeks ago it seemed unlikely that he would enter 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 injuries to 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’s 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 selection based on his batting alone.
