Cameron Green: ‘Bradman and Lillee rolled into one’

The 21-year-old, who plies his trade for Western Australia, has begun the Sheffield Shield in impressive touch with the bat. After a half-century against South Australia in the first round, Green went to a career-best 197 against reigning Shield champions New South Wales this week.

He hasn’t bowled in first-class cricket in 2020 due to a stress fracture in his back but has said that he could return with the ball in WA’s upcoming Shield matches.

Green’s form has followed on from an excellent 2019/20 season in which his 699 first-class runs came at an average of 63.54.

Here’s an excerpt of the conversation that surrounded Green on the latest podcast, featuring Wisden.com managing editor Ben Gardner and the Wisden Cricket Monthly duo of Phil Walker and Jo Harman.

Phil Walker: “…I’m aware that he’s essentially Bradman and Lillee all rolled into one. He made 197 this week, and I saw some footage of it. What struck me the most was just how gutted he was to be out three short of a double hundred. He was absolutely crestfallen. He was down on his haunches, dragged off the pitch.

“He was absolutely wrecked by it. And that to me just says 10,000, 12,000 Test runs and probably 400 Test wickets. It’s going to be agony to watch him.

“The other thing is he doesn’t really turn me on as a player. He’s tall, he’s got touches of [Zak] Crawley to him, but not quite as fluid. But he’s just going to get runs, loads and loads of runs.”

Ben Gardner: “He’s 21 years old. Since the start of the 2019 Sheffield Shield season he’s got [four] hundreds, a high score of 197, an average of about 70. His overall first-class record, he’s averaging [52] with the bat and 22 with the ball. And that 22 with the ball is bowling above 140kph, according to reports.

Jo Harman: “He’s batting at four in state cricket isn’t he?”

BG: “Yeah, and he’s moved up the order quite quickly – his first hundred was a brilliant match-saver when they were sort of 90-[7] and he hit [121*] batting all day partnering the tail, and now he’s in that prime position.”

JH: “Interesting, because Australia haven’t been blessed with all-rounders over the years. Shane Watson is probably as close to as they’ve come to a genuine Test all-rounder in my time watching cricket. You go back to Keith Miller. In the Eighties period when lots of teams had a great one, Australia didn’t. So they’ll have high hopes that they’ve finally discovered one. But who knows? There is the sense that he’s a genuine, genuine all-rounder rather than a batsman who bowls.”

BG: “He is a proper bowler when he does bowl. I guess he is going to be more of a batting all-rounder – Phil’s already talked him up to the hilt, but I guess Jacques Kallis will be the mould, as the top-four batsman who can also contribute with the ball, more than handily.”