Allrounder to bat at four and will only bowl eight overs in Sheffield Shield return for WA
Cameron Green concedes his bowling loads may reduce if he remains at first-drop in the Test side as he takes his first baby steps back to being a fully-fledged allrounder again in this summer’s Ashes.
Green will this weekend bat at four for Western Australia in his first Sheffield Shield game in more than 18 months, but implied that he is expecting to remain at three for next month’s Test series opener against England.
The 26-year-old will also bowl in a competitive fixture for the first time since he underwent back surgery a year ago. He confirmed medicos have limited him to just eight overs in the Shield match against NSW at the WACA Ground beginning Saturday.
Green is sitting out Australia’s current T20I series in New Zealand to facilitate his gradual return to long-form bowling ahead of the Ashes, though he expects to feature in the home ODIs against India later this month.
That will leave him available for as many as three of WA’s four pre-Ashes Shield matches, all being played in Perth.
The towering paceman will understandably be kept on a tight leash with the ball in the seven weeks between now and the Test summer beginning at Perth Stadium on November 21.
By then, however, he hopes to be unrestricted.
“That’s been the plan the whole year,” Green told reporters today. “That’s why it’s been such a slow build-up, so that you’re peaking by the time the Ashes comes around.”
But Green did sound a word of caution over the expectations on his bowling if he remains at the No.3 spot he took up during the winter when he returned to the Test side as a batter only.
The right-hander failed to pass 15 in his first four hits there, in the World Test Championship final against South Africa and the first Test against West Indies in Barbados.
But he then found his feet against the new ball on diabolical batting surfaces in the Caribbean, with his scores of 52, 26, 42 and 46 in the final two Tests worth their weight in gold.
Keeping him at first drop would be consistent with captain Pat Cummins’ desire to keep Australia’s top-order as settled as possible, particularly if Usman Khawaja has a new opening partner.
Coach Andrew McDonald has spoken of “front-ending” Green’s overs during Australia’s bowling innings against England so he’s not physically drained when he bats.
Should fellow allrounder Beau Webster hold his spot at No.6 it could give Cummins flexibility on how and when he deploys his bowlers through a long innings.
“There have been guys who have done it,” Green said. “Shane Watson used to open the batting and bowl. People probably don’t realise how tough that was.
“Spending so long in the field bowling and then being expected to go out there and bat the last 10 overs of the day is really challenging.
“I’m in a bit of a different place (to Watson). Let’s say I’m batting up the top, and Beau’s batting six, for example, maybe he might take more of the (bowling) load.”
Returning to the bowling crease will be the final stage of Green’s carefully monitored return to cricket after undergoing radical, but increasingly popular among injured bowlers, spinal-fusion operation performed by a Christchuch-based surgeon.
He has played all three formats for Australia this year and remains one of world cricket’s most promising cricketers.
“It was just a really slow build up, there was no rushing,” Green said of his rehabilitation from surgery.
“The beauty of the 12 months was that there was no really important cricket before then, so it just gave me a really good opportunity, a bit of a clean slate, to get that really right.
“If there was a World Cup six months post-surgery, you might try and rush back for that, but the beauty was that I had so much time to get it right.
“Hopefully the surgery … holds up really well. (Back injuries) are something you can’t really control. It’s just part of being a fast bowler.
“You can do everything right in the gym, action-wise, body-wise, restrictions-wise, and it still may happen. That’s the unfortunate thing of being a fast bowler.”
