Cameron Green, a young all-rounder for Australia, may not be as fit as he would like to be for the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against tough hosts India.
To get back into playing shape for the Test match in Nagpur, Green has been working out with the squad in Sydney. He will be hoping to hear positive news from the surgeon regarding his broken finger, which he suffered against South Africa during the Melbourne Test last month.
Green has proven from the beginning of his professional career that he is a cricketer who enjoys the pace of continuously playing long-form. In both the Test matches this season and the Ashes from a year ago, he has gotten better throughout the summer.
He crushed South Africa in Melbourne with five wickets before breaking his finger. Despite having an injured finger, the all-rounder entered the batting order and managed to make a critical unbeaten fifty.
Australian Head coach Andrew McDonald said, “Where he’s positioned at the moment, his biggest challenge is bowling. There is a lack of loading there, and one of the key reasons around us getting into this camp early is to make sure that we’re ready to go for the rigours of what the bowling unit [is] going to encompass. Building confidence is the main thing, setting him up to succeed in that first Test match, having enough time, that will be the critical question.”
Even yet, if Green’s bowling isn’t quite up to par, he would be viewed as a specialist batter. His ability to catch up swiftly in the subcontinent was shown last year with significant half-centuries in Lahore and Galle, where he earned Player of the Match on a challenging surface.
However, the all-rounder is crucial to balancing Australia’s team. If he is unable to bowl, the selectors must decide whether to maintain their two-quick, two-spinner balance, like they did against South Africa at the SCG, or to support their normal strength in pace with a second quick (or play).
Despite Green’s incapacity to bowl, McDonald disallowed the use of three specialised spinners.
If Green isn’t considered a specialist batter, Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb, who both played at the SCG, are choices for the Australians at No. 6, with the latter complementing a plethora of left-handers who might be working in his favor.
McDonald said, “We see him [Handscomb] as an important right-hand option. We’ve got a lot of left-handers. If there were to be any late changes, or Cameron Green doesn’t make that first Test, we feel we have some good options.”
Although there is debate of putting Mitchell Starc out earlier than originally planned, he is expected to be ready for the second Test in Delhi on February 17—the other significant injury issue for Australia.
Starc also had a finger injury at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), and while he has been practising bowling while wearing protection, he won’t be able to do so while competing.
McDonald praised his improvement while noting that a specific date for his comeback has not yet been defined.
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McDonald said on Starc’s comeback, “The guard needs to stay on. Protecting against the knock that would then re-injure that ligament. That’s why it’s a clear-cut deadline to mitigate against any of that risk. We can’t accelerate that, to be honest. It’s probably frustrating for Mitch that he feels that good. But the good thing is when he does get out of the splint all his workloads are going to be up to speed and it will be pretty much into that second Test, which is good news to us.”
The Border-Gavaskar trophy, which will include four tests will start on February 09.
