Nathan Lyon has high praise for Australia’s all-round prodigy Cameron Green, earmarking him to emulate South Africa great Jacques Kallis in his path towards Test excellence.
The 24-year-old Green has earned plenty of plaudits in his 25-Test career so far. He is one of only two Australia players to have scored at least 1,000 runs and picked at least 30 wickets before turning 25, alongside Steve Waugh, and is already a World Cup and World Test Championship winner.
Even in white-ball cricket, Green is quickly making his name – in 2023, he became the then second-most expensive player to be picked in an IPL auction.
Since an overseas century against India in March last year, Green has encountered a relatively silent patch in Tests. In the last ten innings before the ongoing Brisbane Test against the West Indies, he crossed 30 just once.
After the third day’s play, Lyon was asked about Green, and whether there was a temptation to switch him with Steve Smith, whose promotion to opening hasn’t yielded much so far.
“If you look at Greeny, obviously have had the challenge of bowling to him in Shield cricket. Him batting at No.4 he’s given me a lot of headaches. I have actually really enjoyed seeing him batting at four. I feel like he could be the next Jacques Kallis of international cricket. Invest some time into him at No.4.”
Kallis, considered one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, has the third-most Test runs in history (13,289) and is also South Africa’s joint sixth-highest wicket-taker in the format.
Lyon also insisted that there was no concern in the Australian camp about how Smith has gone as an opener so far. “I don’t need to speak about Smithy – his numbers speak for themselves. There’s been no one worried about Smithy’s form, if that’s what the question is. It’s pretty amazing to have Smith to put his hand up and go at the top of the order.”
“With Green, his technique is good enough to succeed at No.4.”
