Little known quick rips apart Bangladesh<\/a><\/p>\n\u2018SOMETHING SPECIAL\u2019: GREEN\u2019S \u2018EXCEPTIONAL\u2019 START<\/p>\n
You can nicely divide Green\u2019s Test career to this point into two halves.<\/p>\n
The first \u2014 from his whirlwind rise to the baggy green up until losing his spot midway through the 2023 Ashes \u2014 the Western Australian regularly flexed his considerable skillset to become among the team\u2019s most crucial contributors.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s exceptional,\u201d England captain Michael Vaughan gushed on Fox Cricket as a supreme spell of seam bowling routed the tourists under lights in Hobart to turn a tight tussle Australia\u2019s way to end the 2021\/22 Ashes.<\/p>\n
Months later, on just his second overseas tour, Green handled a spinner\u2019s paradise in Galle with aplomb with a mixture of deft footwork, sweeps and reverse-sweeps and seemingly endless patience to set up a ten-wicket win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re witnessing something special here with Cameron Green,\u201d former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said of his 77.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery Test innings he\u2019s getting better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such was the team\u2019s reliance on him that a cracked finger during the 2022 Boxing Day Test \u2013 having already captured his maiden five-wicket haul and a half-century \u2013 proved disastrous for Australia\u2019s subsequent tour of India.<\/p>\n
That series flipped on Green\u2019s return: having come in with the team 2-0 down after two Tests, he stabilised both the batting order and the bowling attack for victory in Indore, then secured a maiden century to fully capitalise on a belter of a pitch in Ahmedabad.<\/p>\n
Cameron Green celebrates after scoring his maiden Test century against India. (Photo by Punit PARANJPE \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Throw in a spectacular catch in the gully to dismiss Indian star Shubman Gill at a critical juncture of the World Test Championship final, and there was no question Green was a critical component of the best team on the planet.<\/p>\n
The second half, though, has been turbulent to say the least.<\/p>\n
ROLE RESHUFFLE LEADS TO \u2018MOST DISAPPOINTING SUMMER\u2019<\/p>\n
Following that India series, Green\u2019s batting average had risen to 37.64, with his bowling average a none-too-shabby 34.35 \u2013 the former better than, the latter only slightly behind, the world\u2019s leading all-rounder in Stokes.<\/p>\n
But having owned the No.6 spot in the order for nearly three years, his withdrawal from the third Ashes Test in 2023 would have long-term consequences.<\/p>\n
In his first Test in four years, Mitchell Marsh filled in at No.6, struck an extraordinary century, and rode a six-month form surge all the way to an unlikely Allan Border Medal win.<\/p>\n
Green would miss five of the next six Tests, but the role he had made his own had been lost.<\/p>\n
The Western Australian has just one Test innings at No. 6 since \u2013 a 24 in the first dig in the first Ashes Test of 2025\/26 \u2013 as first Marsh and then Beau Webster took their opportunities with aplomb.<\/p>\n
He hasn\u2019t lacked for opportunities to return to the XI, but every recall has brought with it a change of position and change of role.<\/p>\n
A major reshuffle following David Warner\u2019s retirement in early 2024 saw Green brought back at No.4, the spot he had made his own for WA in the Shield, with Steve Smith shifted to open.<\/p>\n
He repaid the faith with a superb century against New Zealand in Wellington, rescuing a rocky start and reaching 174 not out.<\/p>\n
But the next Test a week later would be his last for more than 12 months.<\/p>\n
He looked all at sea against the moving ball against South Africa in the World Test Championship final last year, batting at No.3, before improving in the role in tough conditions against the West Indies on the tour that followed.<\/p>\n
He finished third on the Frank Worrell Trophy run charts with an average beyond 30 \u2013 nothing to be sniffed at on a tour the Windies finished by being bowled out for 27 \u2013 only to be back into the middle order for the home Ashes last summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been up and down the order like a yo-yo \u2013 trying to find his spot and allowing other people to come in,\u201d Warner told foxsports.com.au last year about his old teammate.<\/p>\n
Concerningly, Green floundered, falling from No.5 back to No.7 by series\u2019 end, with an argument Webster, brought back in at No.8 for the fifth Test in Sydney, should have been above him too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been one of the most disappointing returns from an all-rounder that we\u2019ve seen in a long time in Australia,\u201d cricket commentator Bharat Sundaresan told SEN of a summer that included a disastrous run out on Boxing Day, backing away to be embarrassingly bowled at the Gabba, and a string of other reckless dismissals to throw away repeat solid starts.<\/p>\n
Green Run Out in Boxing Day brain fade | 00:53<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an exceptional cricketer in there with his batting, bowling and fielding \u2013 but he gets out in some really soft ways,\u201d former England captain Nasser Hussain surmised on Sky Sports.<\/p>\n
\u2018DESERVES THE CHANCE\u2019: THE UNDENIABLE TRUTH<\/p>\n
Green\u2019s movement up and down the batting order has no doubt contributed to his struggle to make his mark in recent years.<\/p>\n
But the reason it has happened is that selectors have remained adamant throughout his ordeals that he remains in the top six batters in Australia when fit.<\/p>\n
And on all available evidence, they\u2019re right.<\/p>\n
Green averages 57 in first-class cricket outside Tests, with 13 centuries in just 70 innings.<\/p>\n
Whenever he has returned to Sheffield Shield level, he has plundered runs; a stint for Glamorgan in 2025 yielded three centuries in eight innings to make his recall as a batter only a formality. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s piled on a mountain of runs for Western Australia, so he deserves that chance to continue to show what a great talent he is,\u201d Gillespie told foxsports.com.au of Green\u2019s future prospects.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe selectors, led by George Bailey, and Andrew McDonald, clearly believe that Cam Green is a fantastic cricketer and they like having him in and around that team.<\/p>\n
Cameron Green celebrates his spectacular hundred against New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind talented players that perform well at domestic level being given an extended run with the national side. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe chances are they are going to come good and have significant careers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also in Green\u2019s favour is the paucity of young options coming through the ranks in Shield cricket \u2013 especially with the bat.<\/p>\n
Only NSW all-rounder Jack Edwards and Matt Renshaw made more runs at a higher average than his 355 at 44.37 last summer. <\/p>\n
If it\u2019s not Green, there isn\u2019t exactly a queue of contenders ready to take Australian cricket into a bright new era.<\/p>\n
As for Green\u2019s Test stats, they aren\u2019t dissimilar to Stokes\u2019, who retired from Test cricket in July with a batting average of 34 and bowling average of 31, despite the worries. <\/p>\n
Flintoff\u2019s, for what it\u2019s worth, were 31 and 32.<\/p>\n
Just two players in history have averaged over 35 with the bat and under 30 with the ball in Tests \u2013 and Imran Khan and Keith Miller are unquestioned legends of the game.<\/p>\n
But while he remains the youngest in the team, Green is also now 27. <\/p>\n
The low point of a dire home Ashes for Cameron Green. (Photo by DAVID GRAY \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a year older than Ricky Ponting was in the 2001 Ashes, the series where he made the leap from promising youth to modern titan.<\/p>\n
Smith was 25 when his path to greatness truly began in the mid-2010s. Steve Waugh, like Green an all-rounder of promise in his younger years, was 24 when he bossed the 1989 Ashes series despite zero Test centuries heading in.<\/p>\n
Ian Botham was 25 when his heroics in the 1981 Ashes forever cemented his name in history. Stokes was only 28 when he did likewise to take England to 2019 World Cup glory, then backed it up with his classic century in the Miracle of Headingley.<\/p>\n
The clock isn\u2019t exactly ticking \u2026 but there comes a point in every career when potential comes second to performance.<\/p>\n
For Green, with tours of South Africa, India and England, plus in all likelihood another World Test Championship final, following these two Tests against Bangladesh, that time has come.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got to be playing at full steam ahead,\u201d former Australian Test all-rounder and Fox Cricket commentator Brendon Julian told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n
Julian believes Australian cricket can no longer afford to coddle him, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be saying to him \u2018Mate, you\u2019re in the side as an all-rounder \u2013 you\u2019ve got to make runs, take wickets\u2019, because I don\u2019t think his form is warranted that he\u2019s got to be managed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s a lock necessarily all the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cHave a look at his career, he\u2019s played a lot of Test match cricket. Last summer wasn\u2019t a great one for him, so I think he\u2019s got more of a point to prove with his form.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameron Green: running out of chances? (Photo by William WEST \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
THE WEBSTER CONUNDRUM<\/p>\n
Green\u2019s biggest problem might not be injuries, or form, or even the constant rejigging of the batting order to fit him into more and more unlikely spots.<\/p>\n
It might actually be the fact that he has spent the second half of his Test career going head-to-head with other all-rounders \u2013 and paling in comparison.<\/p>\n
Marsh peeled off a century and six other 50s in a ten-Test purple patch after being recalled, putting Green\u2019s batting numbers to shame so clearly that the one-time whipping boy became a national hero.<\/p>\n
Then, when the Bison\u2019s form tapered and with the 2024\/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the line, Beau Webster made good on his post-30s rise into international calculations with vital scores of 57 and 39 not out in the deciding fifth Test.<\/p>\n
Since Green\u2019s recall for the WTC final, the Tasmanian has four centuries in five Tests, compared to the Western Australian\u2019s zero in nine.<\/p>\n
Will Webster replace Cameron Green? | 01:56<\/p>\n
A horror pull shot to give away his wicket in the fifth Ashes Test looked even worse for Green when Webster replaced him at the crease, batted beautifully with Smith, and finished unbeaten on 71 having taken the match out of England\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n
With the ball, too, there are concerns.<\/p>\n
Having just returned to bowling, Green was predictably rusty in the Ashes; but by the fifth Test, it was alarming to see his 24 overs for the match go at over five an over for just one wicket.<\/p>\n
Especially when Webster, stepping up as the de facto fifth bowler when Green could no longer be trusted, took three middle-order wickets with his languid but precise medium-pace.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeau Webster, every time he\u2019s had his opportunity, he\u2019s taken it,\u201d Julian said. <\/p>\n
Beau Webster celebrates after taking the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Ramesh Mendis in Ferbruary 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
It would defy Australian history to see the two all-rounders share the same team for long.<\/p>\n
It took a farcical two-day MCG pitch and fears of similar at the SCG over the summer for selectors to pick them both in Sydney, and at the expense of a bowler rather than a top-six batter.<\/p>\n
For Julian, it will soon be a case of the town not being big enough for the two of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s (Green) got to be performing well, or Webster\u2019s going to come in and take his spot,\u201d Julian said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s enough room to fit them both in the top six. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt depends on conditions as well \u2013 if Nathan Lyon comes out and is fit, he\u2019ll bowl a lot of overs, you won\u2019t need to play two all-rounders in that side. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t be going in with Webster going in at eight again. You\u2019ve got to be going with your three quicks and your spinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Green can\u2019t take his chance, it\u2019s hard to see Webster missing his.<\/p>\n
Beau Webster celebrates with Cameron Green after an England wicket. (Photo by Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u2018FIVE OR SIX\u2019: THE KEY TO A TURNAROUND<\/p>\n
37 Tests into his career, Green remains an integral part of Australian cricket\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
In just five of those has he not been the youngest member of the XI \u2013 twice in India in 2023 when Todd Murphy was selected, and the three-Test tour of the West Indies last year when Sam Konstas proved not yet ready for the demands of opening in tough conditions.<\/p>\n
With a golden generation still performing admirably well into their 30s, and selectors mostly unwilling to blood future prospects in their stead, Green is the only guarantee to be still a Test prospect when the 2029\/30 Ashes rolls around.<\/p>\n
Now, after years of injury struggles and revolving role changes, is his chance for continuity.<\/p>\n
Barring a major surprise, he will walk out at No. 5 or No. 6 for the first Test against Bangladesh on Thursday (depending on whether Alex Carey receives an extra promotion) and almost certainly the second too \u2013 with Webster slotting in behind them.<\/p>\n
And Julian believes the spot in the middle-order is a far better fit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought he was a top-order (batter) \u2013 five, okay,\u201d Julian told foxsports.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve basically wedged him in there (the top order) because they didn\u2019t really have an opportunity or a choice. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think he performs better down the order. I just don\u2019t think, technique-wise, he\u2019s good enough up the order. <\/p>\n
\u201cIdeally, he\u2019d be five or six.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian also believes the off-Broadway nature of these Tests \u2013 the first in Darwin in more than two decades, and the first at a non-major venue in Australia since Canberra hosted Sri Lanka in early 2019 \u2013 could also be handy.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of going on a massive overseas tour, you\u2019re going up north to Darwin and playing two Test matches,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great way to ease into the summer, it\u2019s a good opportunity for these guys to get set. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a pre-season, because it\u2019s a proper Test match. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut no better opportunity \u2013 two Test matches, up in the north, the weather\u2019s good, really good conditions. The pitch up there will be great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heralded from the outset as a player unlike anything Australian cricket had ever seen \u2013 no less a judge than Australian legend Greg Chappell judged him \u201cthe best young player since Ponting\u201d \u2013 Green was always going to struggle to live up to the hype.<\/p>\n
But whether he ever becomes Australia\u2019s Flintoff, or Stokes, or even another Jacques Kallis, is surely no longer the goal.<\/p>\n
Get all the latest cricket news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\nIf Green can again become the middle-order cog he was while cutting his teeth at Test level, a player capable of vital innings and partnership-breaking spells all while providing balance to an XI likely to undergo major changes in the years to come, all the patience will have been worth it and then some.<\/p>\n
The road there begins in Darwin. Neither he nor Australia can afford many more potholes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For most of Australia\u2019s Test squad, a blockbuster next 12 months offers the chance to cement their legacy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-850851","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\/850851","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=850851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n