Cameron Green admits he was “a little embarrassed” after his dismissal in Brisbane but says he won’t shy away from playing in a similarly aggressive manner should the match situation require it.
As Australia closed in on England’s first innings score, Green was bowled by Brydon Carse in the night session on day two after backing away and missing a full ball.
Carse had only three fielders on the off-side, with only a mid off in front of point, suggesting a barrage of short balls were coming Green’s way.
As Green moved towards the leg-side to give him an option to hit towards the open spaces on the off-side, Carse executed an unexpected yorker and sent Green’s bails flying.
Green’s reluctance to take on the fielders waiting with the hook and pull shots was predicated by the long deep pockets at the Gabba, something he said was completely situational.
“It’s very game dependent,” Green said on Sunday morning.
“Potentially at Adelaide Oval, with shorter square boundaries, maybe you’re looking to take it on more than at the Gabba with really, really long square boundaries.
“Were the extra runs really crucial at night? Maybe, maybe not.
“It’s all those things that you weigh up during an innings to work out what the best thing is for the team.
“Yeah, it looks quite bad when you get out, you walk off a little bit embarrassed, but I think they’re all really great learnings.”
Green fronted the media with strapping on his left thumb which he insisted was not an issue but merely the result of copping a “knock on it” in the Brisbane Test.
He required treatment after a Gus Atkinson ball struck his right thumb earlier in his innings, but says he wasn’t impacted by the blow.
The allrounder had the longest bat of all the Australians on Sunday to shrug off any concerns, with the exception of opener Jake Weatherald and tireless trainer Marnus Labuschagne.
On an unseasonally cold and windy day in the South Australian capital, the Aussie batters found the going tough in the famous Adelaide Oval practice nets.
With a healthy covering of green grass, Steve Smith described the pitches as “tricky” and “skiddy nippers”, with some of the batters taking time to adjust to the lack of bounce in comparison to Perth and Brisbane.
Back in the squad and on track to return, captain Pat Cummins had a solid bowl and appeared in good spirits as he tested the techniques of Weatherald, Travis Head and Usman Khawaja.
“To welcome back Patty is pretty unbelievable,” Green said.
“Before the series, we were quite upset that we didn’t have Patty around.
“To be two-nil up and then welcome back in Patty is a great thing for our team.”
When it was his turn to bat, Cummins copped a bouncer barrage from assistant coaches James Franklin and Andre Borovec, perhaps expecting to receive short stuff from England’s under-fire attack.
Fast bowler Jhye Richardson was also on deck and sent down several spells under the watchful eye of the coaching staff.
Having come off matches for the CA XI and Australia A, the WA quick has been increasing his bowling loads in recent weeks.
Assistant Daniel Vettori had the handheld speed gun trained on Richardson during one of his earlier stints as he sent down deliveries to Australia’s top order.
Before his short hit in the nets, hometown hero Head had a long look at the pitch in the middle of the Adelaide Oval as he reacquainted himself with the venue.
Getting down on all fours, Head rubbed the pitch with his hands and chatted with the curators in a lengthy inspection.
Head has three Test hundreds and averages 79.25 from seven matches at the famous ground.
Although the conditions on Sunday were a breezy ‘feels like’ 17C, the forecast is predicting a stinking hot match, with day one expected to hit a top of 34C and day two 37C.
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (third Test only): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue
