This was published 9 months ago
Why selectors are prepared to ride the bumps with Cameron Green
By Andrew Wu
Rising star Cameron Green has been given a ringing endorsement by head selector George Bailey, but it comes with a warning there are more growing pains ahead for the all-rounder on his road to becoming Australia’s first all-format star of the next generation.
Green’s great importance to the future of Australian cricket was reinforced again on Friday when selectors unveiled a 14-man squad for the two Tests in New Zealand firmly focused on the here and now.
Selectors have urged patience with Cameron Green.Credit: Getty
While veteran Michael Neser returns to the Test set-up for the first time since the Ashes, Green and Queensland’s Matthew Renshaw are the only two players under the age of 28 in the touring party.
Though Bailey is confident there are up-and-comers progressing, two 31-year-olds – Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris – are widely regarded in state circles as the best batters outside of the Test squad, underlining the dearth of young batting talent coming through the Shield.
Bailey tempered the hype on white-ball sensation Jake Fraser-McGurk, who averages 22 in first-class cricket, saying he was in consideration for Test honours “down the track” but needed consistency at Shield level first to challenge.
With a first-class average of nearly 46 and 26 Tests under the belt, combined with 32 Test wickets at 36, Green is far and away the best of his contemporaries, but has endured a flat 12 months since making what appeared to be a breakthrough maiden century in India last year.
Dropped for the red-hot Mitchell Marsh during the Ashes, Green started the summer out of the baggy green and the 50-over side but comes out the other end having regained his place in both teams, and remains firmly in the mix for selection in the Twenty20 World Cup.
“We think he’s super talented, there’s a skill set there that’s unbelievable across all three formats,” Bailey said.
The microscope will be on Green, whose first series at No.4 returned lean pickings of 14, eight and 42, albeit off limited match practice. But he will enter the Trans Tasman series with his confidence bolstered by an unbeaten 77 in the ODI side and a rare hit out in the Shield next week.
Bailey will ride the bumps with Green, who appears a 10-year Test player in the making. As Green’s predecessors Shane Watson and Mitchell Marsh found out, all-rounders can test the patience of fans.
“His domestic record is superior to anyone who has played over the last little period, albeit that he hasn’t had the opportunity that much,” Bailey said.
“[We’re] really confident that just [by] continuing to expose him he’ll get better and better, learn more about his game. But, like any player, I don’t think it’s going to be a straight line. [I] think there’ll be fluctuations throughout as there always is.”
Bailey said Green had learned plenty from his trying 2023, including the mental and emotional tests in dealing with ups and downs in form while on tour.
“I think it’s a challenge that all those players do go through but I guess when you are younger and you get exposed to that, it can be it can be tough.
“But I’m sure if you ask Cam he wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Michael Neser has been named in Australia’s Test squad for the tour of New Zealand.Credit: Getty
There were no surprises in the Test squad, with Renshaw and Scott Boland retaining their places as the reserve batter and fast bowler respectively, while Neser was recalled on the expectation the green tracks in New Zealand will suit his seam bowling.
Bailey said express paceman Lance Morris would have missed the tour even if he had not injured his side due to the conditions across the Tasman.
Selectors opted not to send a back-up spinner and wicketkeeper to New Zealand due to the short travel time needed for a replacement.
Troubles could arise, though, if wicketkeeper Alex Carey was to suffer a mishap during a game as his understudy Josh Inglis is based in Perth, about seven hours’ flight from New Zealand.
SQUAD: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head (vc), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc.
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