Cameron Green still a chance to replace David Warner in Australian Test XI
David Warner has one Test match remaining, leaving selectors little time to settle on a replacement. Australian coach Andrew McDonald provides an update.
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Australian coach Andrew McDonald says national selectors still haven’t settled on David Warner’s replacement as Test opener and has left the door ajar for Cameron Green to return as part of a top-six reshuffle.
Having wrapped up the Boxing Day Test inside four days, the Aussies had a day off in Melbourne on Saturday ahead of their trip to Sydney for what will be Warner’s swansong.
With the Benaud-Qadir Trophy secured on the back of an unassailable 2-0 series lead against Pakistan with just the SCG Test to play, attention is turning to Australia’s next assignment, coming in the form of two Tests against the West Indies beginning in mid-January.
Forced change is coming given Warner’s retirement, flagged publicly almost six months ago during a pre-Ashes training camp.
Warner during the week endorsed his Ashes understudy Marcus Harris to take his spot, although McDonald on Saturday brushed off the importance of Warner’s opinion on the subject.
Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Matt Renshaw are the three specialist openers vying for position, however, there is also scope for Australia to recall all-rounder Green and either move him to the opening spot or shift an incumbent batter to the role.
Speaking ahead of what is set to be a week of pageantry for Warner in his home Test, McDonald said the hole left by the left-hander would be hard to fill.
“He’s probably our greatest ever three-format player,” McDonald said.
“He’ll be a loss. Other people have been gunning for him for a period of time but for us internally, we’ve seen the great value and what he brings to the table hence why we’ve kept picking him. He repaid that faith in the first Test match. It can be hard to replace someone who is striking at 70, averaging 45 most ever runs as an Australian opener.”
McDonald said he and fellow selectors George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide were due to have a selection meeting later on Saturday, primarily to confirm the squad for the Sydney Test. But the coach said that one eye was already stationed on the Windies.
“I think we can start sort of discussing that. Definitely. And forecasting what that might look like. There’s no doubt about that. It’s going to come pretty quickly,” McDonald said.
“There’s a few options. Everyone’s well aware of the options. I’m a person that once you know when you’re gonna make the decision, you make it at that point in time until then the discussions will be open. But yeah, we’ll put a deadline on that. And that’ll be the West Indies selection meeting.
“All options will be considered. And I’ve said we’re not gonna make the decision until the deadline which will be the West Indies game but I mean Cameron Green, could as a discussion around who (are) the best six batters (are) will definitely be in the conversation.”
While Warner will finish in Test cricket in the first week of 2024, his international white-ball future is less clear.
Warner wants to play in next June’s Twenty20 World Cup and has not ruled out trying to make it to the 2027 one-day World Cup. The next stage of his career however will be as a white-ball freelancer, with the veteran set to request to miss white-ball games against the Windies in early February to play for the Dubai Capitals in the lucrative ILT20 league.
McDonald said such juggling acts were becoming increasingly common, and that deliberations on whether to provide No Objection Certificates (NOCs) would be made on a case-by-case basis.
“It’s getting more cramped. Yeah, it’s tough. It’s difficult. Matthew Wade was given NOC to miss a Tasmanian game (last summer) so I think it comes down to each individual case, where the player is within their career and the appetite from each individual state to allow that to happen. So I think every case should be considered individually.”
Originally published as Cameron Green still a chance to replace David Warner in Australian Test XI
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