Sheffield Shield 2020: All-rounders Cameron Green, Moises Henriques push Test case
Prodigy Cameron Green is about to take a huge step toward a baggy green but he may have to bide his time if a player who keeps defying time continues with his current tear.
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Australia’s Test allrounder-in-waiting is close to resuming bowling in the Sheffield Shield.
WA’s emerging star Cameron Green is being managed after injuring his back last season but is expected to be back bowling his dangerous seamers in the coming weeks.
“Cameron is a work in progress,” WA teammates Ashton Turner said.
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“He’s not too far away (from bowling). I imagine, like all fast bowlers, and especially young fast bowlers, he’ll get slowly phased back in and we might see some short spells towards the back end of this block (of games).”
After just 16 first-class matches, the 21-year-old Green averages 45 with the bat and 21.53 with the ball.
His top score is an unbeaten 158 and his best bowling return a sizzling 6-30, both against Tasmania.
He might not be needed in the Test side, given how Australia’s all-round resurgence continued in Adelaide when Moises Henriques became the latest to prosper in the Adelaide hub.
In making a century against Western Australia, Henriques joined Michael Neser and Ashton Agar in the centurions’ circle five days into the Sheffield Shield season.
In a long and barren stretch since Shane Watson’s retirement, Aussie allrounders have been thin on the ground.
Well you can barely take a step in the Adelaide hub without falling over someone in form with bat and ball.
All-round strength has long been Australia’s weakness so coach Justin Langer would be delighted with the form of so many dual-discipline players.
Henriques’ big hundred follows him being named joint Shield player of the year with Nic Maddinson last season.
At the SA/Tasmania game next door, Tasmania’s Beau Webster pushed his allrounder claims to take 3-26 from 12 overs to go with the half-century he made against Tasmania last week.
AUSTRALIA’S ANSWER TO BEN STOKES HITS BACK OVER HYPE
— Ben Horne
It seems the only person who isn’t putting pressure on emerging Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, is the man himself.
The next big thing in Australian cricket has listened to the hype that he’s a once-in-a-generation star in the making, and has politely distanced himself from it all.
Green is firmly in the sights of Test selectors due to his tantalising, and importantly, proven ability to score big hundreds with the bat and take wickets at over 140km/h with the ball.
It’s a rare package that England has in freakish matchwinner Ben Stokes and has the potential to catapult Australia’s current Test team into the realms of greatness.
Sir Donald Bradman might have been irreplaceable, but Keith Miller – Australia’s greatest ever all-rounder – was not far behind him, and the country has never seen anything quite like him in the 70 years since.
Even class all-rounders like Shane Watson who have followed have been marked by extremely high standards, and are often injured due to the taxing role they play, and this is the high-pressure environment Green is coming into.
But according to the unassuming 21-year-old, the excitement is far too premature and for that reason he doesn’t feel affected.
“Yeah, I’ve been OK. I think in my mind it’s been pretty unrealistic about myself,” Green told News Corp.
“So I think that’s how I’ve kind of dealt with it. That if I don’t really believe the hype, than it can’t affect me.
“I think it’s been a little bit over the top. I’ve only had one really good season with the bat and to be fair that was probably just half the season. I haven’t been reliable with my back (and haven’t bowled as much).
“In my head, it’s been a little bit unrealistic (the plaudits), but obviously it’s a goal for the future.”
The great Keith Miller averaged 37 with the bat for Australia, and with the ball was in Dennis Lillee territory, taking a wicket for every 23 runs conceded.
From 15 first-class games for WA, Green – who has looked to Australian destroyer Stokes for inspiration – averages 43 with the bat and a startling 21 with the ball.
For that reason, big fans, Australian coach Justin Langer and captain Tim Paine have refused to rule out a shock debut for Green this summer – with Langer’s mantra, ‘if you’re good enough you’re old enough.’
Green won’t bowl for WA in Saturday’s Sheffield Shield opener in Adelaide as he recovers from a rib injury which has followed his recovery from back stress fractures last summer – but he is bowling in the nets and hopes to be sending down his rapid deliveries at some stage in the opening four rounds in October.
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The talented prodigy who has everyone from Paine to Greg Chappell in awe of his talents, wouldn’t say no to a Test debut against India this summer if it came, but deep down the West Australian feels he might need another season of Sheffield Shield bowling under his belt before he’s ready.
“Obviously you would never turn down playing for Australia, but yeah, I think in my mind I would like to get (my bowling) ready first before I put my body up to a five-day game for example,” said Green.
“At the moment I’m obviously not looking too far ahead. I’m just looking to get my body right, but at the same time you’d never turn down an opportunity like that.
“If there’s ever opportunity for a new guy coming into the team at the moment, it doesn’t really look like you’re going to get thrown in the deep end. You probably bat five or six behind three world class batsmen (Warner, Smith, Labuschagne) and same with the bowling, you’re not going to get chucked the new ball or even first-change.
“It definitely helps that you’ve got absolute class with the bat and ball so if there’s ever an opportunity for a new person going into the Test team, you’re going to be pretty well looked after.”
Originally published as Sheffield Shield 2020: All-rounders Cameron Green, Moises Henriques push Test case