Cameron Green: The New Australian Cricket Promise Ready for Debut
The 21-year-old
allrounder, Cameron Green, originally from Western Australia, is ready to make his debut for Australia at the Adelaide Oval. This initial appearance is one of the most anticipated in recent times. Below, we present some details about this promising player.
Your Journey So Far
In first-class cricket, Green has shown exceptional performance. He has five centuries in 21 matches, including an impressive 197, his personal best, achieved earlier this season against New South Wales. His batting average is 55.04. Recently, he played against the Indians last week. A standout match was against Queensland at the Gabba in November 2019, where he demonstrated his skill with the bat, scoring 87 and 121 runs not out, batting at positions 8 and 9. This was also the last match in which he bowled for a year. With the ball, he averages 21.72 runs per his 33
wickets, including a 5 for 24 in his first-class debut against Tasmania, a team against which he also achieved his best mark of 6 for 30 in 2018. His career in white-ball cricket is not as prominent, although he debuted in ODIs a couple of weeks ago, but he has only participated in nine matches in both categories, List A and T20. It is with the red (and pink) ball where he is generating great expectation.
Great Expectations
It can be said that yes. Greg Chappell has called him “the best since Ricky Ponting” in recent interviews. In June, Chappell selected him in the number 6 position of the test team.
“For me, Cameron Green is the next Australian cricket superstar,” Chappell stated. “He’s a real prospect with the bat and ball, but I think his future lies as a batsman who can offer some overs of quality. Cameron is a batsman with exceptional talent. At 1.98 meters tall, he could become something very special. I would put him to bat at number 6 to start, but I think position number 4 is his long-term position. The sooner he plays at this level, the sooner he will become the player he needs to be.”
Greg Chappell
The Recent Injury
There was a worrying moment when Green was hit on the head by a bouncer from Jasprit Bumrah at the SCG. He immediately left the field and was substituted for concussion, as well as undergoing scans that ruled out any fractures. Fortunately, the blow did not cause major damage (unlike Will Pucovski, Green has no history of concussions) and it seems that he will comply with all Cricket Australia protocols to be able to debut.
Is the Allrounder that Australia Needs?
Perhaps, but with caution. This has nothing to do with his talent, but with the restrictions on his release due to a stress fracture in his back that he suffered last year. He has worked on his action with WA’s bowling coach, Matt Mason, and has so far been limited to four
overs spells. This season he has not bowled more than eight
overs in a day in match conditions. However, he has shown his 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 relaxed. “I think he’ll bowl a little bit more than that, once you’re selected for 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.”
Did His Debut Come Sooner Than Expected?
In a way, yes. In fact, a few weeks ago it seemed unlikely that he would be part of the initial team 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 were altered due to the injuries of Warner and Pucovksi, which led Australia to reorganize the batting order (at least for one test) and that has created the opening in the number 6 position. This is not to say that Green doesn’t deserve it. With 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.
