who later described the incident as a \u201cstorm in a teacup\u201d<\/a>, was forced to intervene, apologising to Decent.<\/p>\nGreen\u2019s emotional outburst, the first time he had spoken to the media in nearly three months, suggests that he\u2019s not in the best headspace. It was out of character for the soft-spoken cricketer, the BFG of the national team.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the dummy spit came hours after Green cracked a stylish 135 at Silverwater\u2019s Cricket Central, his first first-class century since May last year, a knock that should do his confidence wonders ahead of the IPL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand what Green might be feeling. It\u2019s clear he\u2019s been under pressure,\u201d former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson penned in The Nightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been a talking point for a while now, and it\u2019s also obvious he\u2019s largely been kept away from or refused to do media in recent months. That usually tells you something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green made his international debut nearly six years ago, yet he still hasn\u2019t scored a Test century on home soil, averaging 28.96 in Australia. Tellingly, during a recent interview with Esquire, he described himself as \u201ca bit of an up-and-coming cricketer\u201d.<\/p>\n
But even though his development has taken longer than anticipated, he can no longer be considered a work-in-progress, a star in the making, a baby-faced prodigy. The likes of Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc could retire within the next 18 months, and the national selectors would want Green to emerge from the looming period of transition as a senior member of the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is such a talented player and Australia badly needs him,\u201d former Australian batter Mark Waugh told Fox Cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really need him at No.5 with his batting and his bowling and his catching. He is so important.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe deserves a bit of leeway, but he will want to get results. No matter what team he plays for, he needs results and he will want to do it. And I am sure he can do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is such a good talent and so important, and if he can just free his mind a bit and just go out there and play and free his mind from the distractions, I am sure he will be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green\u2019s recent performances have been far from disastrous \u2014 averaging 28.39 in Tests across the last three years \u2014 but while the talent is undeniable, he hasn\u2019t done enough to cement his spot in the national side for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can still be one of the great all-rounders of the game because he has the talent,\u201d Chappell continued.<\/p>\n
\u201dBut (it depends on) whether he\u2019s got the decision making, the mental skills to go with it, whether he\u2019s getting the best advice on where he\u2019s going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameron Green of Western Australia. Photo by Mark Metcalfe\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s next Test assignment is August\u2019s two-match series against Bangladesh, while there are a couple of white-ball tours of the subcontinent scheduled before the home summer, but Green\u2019s immediate focus is the IPL, where he\u2019ll be under a mountain of pressure to perform.<\/p>\n
A high salary comes with high expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got paid okay in the IPL, but I don\u2019t think I was ever the highest-paid player there, so that I don\u2019t know that pressure,\u201d former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist told Fox Cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably not going to be a bad freshen up (for Green), just the change of landscape, but there will be expectation. But if he can get himself into the series with the first couple of games, that just provides you with a level of comfort to relax and do your best. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy advice for him, as much as I want him focusing on Australian cricket, would be to go there and try to find a way to relax and enjoy and take your mind completely away from August up north against Bangladesh, or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waugh agreed: \u201cWhen you are playing at the top level, you have to learn to play under pressure. That is the name of the game. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou are playing in front of big crowds, you are playing for your country, you are playing in the IPL, and you just have to handle it. There is no way around it. And if you are a talented player, you are going to have more eyes on you.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the price he is getting paid, the money he is getting paid adds a bit of pressure, but once you get out on the field you are concentrating on what you are doing, your batting, your bowling, your fielding. There is a lot of pressure on him, and at the moment he hasn\u2019t quite handled it probably as well as he would have liked, but I just think he just has to concentrate and keep it simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Courtesy of a newly-introduced rule for overseas talent, Green will only receive AU$2.98 million of his IPL salary, with the remainder going straight to the BCCI\u2019s player development program. However, former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes the Knight Riders should consider slashing his pay cheque even further if Cricket Australia manages his bowling workload during the T20 tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill Cricket Australia allow him to bowl all four overs? That is also a possibility,\u201d Ashwin said on YouTube.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this scenario, the Australian board is saying to Green that he can play in the IPL, but Test cricket is very important for us, so you can play only this much.<\/p>\n
\u201cIPL teams also should have an opportunity where if he bowls only two overs, then they should deduct 2 crores. Why not? If he is not able to deliver his four overs, then you should have the right to cut their money, right? When you came into the IPL auction, the expectation was that you will bowl all four overs, and also bat. If there is no restriction on bowling, then great, but if there is restriction the team should be allowed to cut from the contract money.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 19th edition of the IPL gets underway on Saturday, with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru hosting the Sunrisers Hyderabad at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting from Courtney Walsh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In December, Cameron Green became the highest-paid international cricketer in Indian Premier League history, signed by the Kolkata…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-561821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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