Cameron Green’s injury has left Australia in a predicament ahead of this year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
For years, the Australian bowling attack at home has been Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, and Nathan Lyon. Barring an injury to any of the quartet, Australia have been reluctant to change their combination.
This came with an obvious pitfall. It is all well and fine as long as Australia keep winning which, to be fair, they invariably do at home. However, when India pose a problem, the bowlers get overworked – and tend to lose their sting by the end of the long summer. The Australian attack of Brisbane looked distinctly less penetrative than the same bowlers at Adelaide in 2020/21.
But Australia also hit gold dust that summer by unearthing Cameron Green, the rarest of cricketers – a bowler of reasonable pace who could bat in the top six. Despite their ability to produce generations of world-class cricketers, Australia have been surprisingly deficient of truly world-class Test all-rounders for decades now.
Green did not exactly take the world by storm that summer, but Cricket Australia saw enough to earmark him for the future. He was always going to be the fifth bowler of the attack, but on Australian pitches, his brand of bowling was going to be handy.
In the summer of 2023, Green missed the Headingley Test due to an injury. To replace him, Australia slotted in Mitchell Marsh. Marsh had not played a Test match in four years, but like Green, he could bowl pace and bat in the top six. Marsh responded with a blistering 118 – and replaced Green in the XI.
Green did not have to wait long. When David Warner retired after the Pakistan series at home, the selectors did not find another opener. Instead, Steve Smith, one of the greatest middle-order batters in the history of Test cricket, moved to the top, and Australia included both Green and Marsh.
Do Australia need two cricketers of that role? Of course, their pace trio is ageing, and the home series against India is going to have five Tests instead of the usual four. There is also the fact that since his comeback, Marsh has taken only six wickets from 72 overs in 10 Tests – in other words, he has been at best a part-timer. Green (four Tests, 42 overs, five wickets) has done little better since his comeback.
It is possible that Australia were not expecting them to step up as the fifth and the sixth bowlers but to team up as the fifth bowler. Green’s injury has hurt that.
If Green does not bowl, should he still play?
From 28 Tests, Green has 1,377 runs at 36.23 with two hundreds. In 2024, he has taken up Smith’s vacant spot at No.4, and has averaged 50.33 across six innings since.
In fact, Green’s 302 runs and average of 50.33 are the highest for Australia in 2024. There is little doubt over him adapting to the new role. In first-class cricket, he averages 47.80. For perspective, Travis Head averages 40.10, Marnus Labuschagne 45.93, and Usman Khawaja 44.48. There is merit in playing him as a specialist batter.
At the same time, India have consistently posed more threats to Australia than any touring side over the past decade. To fit Green at four would also mean using Smith as opener – in other words, making one of the game’s finest to bat out of position. Of course, someone else from the six can also open the batting, but like Smith, he would be batting at an unusual slot as well.
The other option would be to rest Green until he is fit enough to bowl, let Smith bat at four, and find a specialist opener. Warner had himself backed Marcus Harris, who made 143 against Tasmania earlier today. Cameron Bancroft and Matt Renshaw have been waiting for some time now. Western Australia captain Sam Whiteman had signed off the 2023/24 Sheffield Shield with a hundred in the final, and began the 2024/25 season with another. But perhaps the most exciting prospect is Sam Konstas of New South Wales, who won the Under-19 World Cup with Australia earlier this year and lit up the SCG with a dazzling maiden hundred.
The improved Green, batting at four, has been a great option for Australia. But the alternatives are myriad, and there is promise there as well – and will help them get the most out of Smith.
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