In a strange sequence at Potchefstroom, the 27-year-old smashed a six in between the two balls where he was struck by Bosch, but the second blow from the Protea was significant enough to rule Green out of the first two Tests of the prized series.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really bizarre. I think there\u2019s definitely a pretty clear link between getting hit and then doing the injury. I think it\u2019s too much of a coincidence for them not to be related,\u201d Green said on Saturday in the Western Cape city.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo basically, yeah, I got hit where you don\u2019t want to get hit, and then two balls later, I went to play a shot just behind the wicket. <\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I had to lengthen my muscle, and yeah, I think my muscle was pretty keen to not move at that stage after I got hit. So yeah, I think the stretching of the muscle, I think, I just had a tear through the ab, the whole ab.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cam Green ruled out of first test in SA | 00:48<\/p>\n
The Perth resident said he was not initially sure whether or not he would feature at all in this series given the mysterious nature of the injury, with Cricket Australia\u2019s medicos telling him it was a rare problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy immediate thoughts were talking to the medical staff and seeing what they thought, how long the timeline would be, (because) it\u2019s quite a unique injury,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not many people that have done the injury but then tried to play a few weeks later, so they didn\u2019t have much to go off.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I just stayed around the group until I\u2019d heard further, depending on how it was tracking, and it kind of was tracking really well for the last game. So we just kept staying on tour and luckily enough, it\u2019s all good to go for the last game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The almost certain return of Green is likely to see Matthew Renshaw return to open in place of Nic Maddinson, who was drafted in as a late replacement but only fired in one of his four innings at the top of the order.<\/p>\n
Whether there are other changes from the disappointment in Gqeberha remains to be seen, with the potential of there being four different faces in the Australian XI for the Cape Town Test. <\/p>\n
While the Proteas had a rest day on Saturday at Newlands after a series where there has been play on all 10 allotted days so far, a handful of Australians took part in an optional session.<\/p>\n
Green was among them and was put through a searching session in the nets by Michael Neser on a clear afternoon in Cape Town, while Nathan Lyon examined the pitch at length along with other members of the Australian coaching staff.<\/p>\n
The main sessions for both sides will occur on Sunday and South Africa confirmed that fast bowler Anrich Nortje would be unavailable after he injured his groin in the second Test.<\/p>\n
Green has not been cleared to bowl in the next Test, though with a view to the series against New Zealand beginning in December, it was encouraging to see him rolling the arm over in the nets at St George\u2019s Park in Gqeberha last week.<\/p>\n
The Western Australian was among those under pressure leading into the Bangladesh series but a fine century in a losing team in Darwin eased the pressure on him.<\/p>\n
The tall right-hander said a decision to return to what he felt was his natural game was a factor in him regaining form, stating he believed he was trying too hard to adjust to the rigours associated with the international red-ball arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was something I mentioned to Ron (McDonald) and Paddy (Cummins) probably before the Darwin game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I\u2019d found a way that I liked to play the game, and certainly that probably hadn\u2019t been there for the last few years. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried to change my game to adapt to international cricket or the best way that I saw fit (and) I probably just went away from how I play the game naturally, and that\u2019s certainly how I felt up in the Top End series.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly up in Mackay and Darwin were huge positives in \u2026 how I wanted to play the game. And that was probably the learnings I took from the last Shield game I played. <\/p>\n
\u201c(That is how) I wanted to play and it felt pretty natural to me. So yeah, there\u2019s certainly learning there of how I went about it in those games. Hopefully I can take it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Cameron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2e8b049ba2cb589e221afa61fae5ca8d.jpeg\")
Cameron Green has not yet been cleared to bowl but is able to bat and looks a likely inclusion in the series decider against South Africa beginning on Tuesday in Cape Town. (Photo by William WEST \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
With speculation around the position of Marnus Labuschagne, it is notable that Green was tried at No.3 in the World Test Championship decider against South Africa at Lord\u2019s last year. <\/p>\n
He averaged 23.5 at first drop which, it must be said, has become a hot seat for Labuschagne given the struggles of Australia\u2019s Test openers over the past two years to survive for lengthy periods and blunt the new ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough experience for sure. It is pretty unique that you\u2019re playing South Africa with the Dukes balls in England,\u201d Green said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo \u2026 I think there\u2019s a lot of good learnings, a lot of tough learnings, but obviously they\u2019re such a quality bowling lineup that you\u2019ve got to be on your game at all times to succeed against them, regardless of where you bat. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut certainly up the top of the order is incredibly difficult, I think, because they have got their opening bowlers, well, they are so great with the new ball. So you have got to work really hard, especially at the start there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labuschagne facing selection pressure | 01:25<\/p>\n
He noted the challenge differed from batting at No.5 but that he would bat wherever required by the Australian selectors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think obviously I\u2019ve had a lot of experience up and down the order, and yeah, I think I\u2019m well suited at four and five,\u201d Green said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut obviously, we\u2019ve had some pretty incredible cricketers bat in those positions. So I\u2019m very happy to move up and down the order depending on what the team wants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green is mindful of the threat posed by the South African attack led by Kagiso Rabada that routed Australia for just 99 runs in the first innings in Gqeberha.<\/p>\n
But he is also confident the Australians will respond well to the loss after skipper Pat Cummins said it might be the defeat the team needed to click into top gear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re obviously at the very top of their game at the moment. They\u2019re probably in the top few bowlers in the world, so you always love those challenges,\u201d Green said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to step up against those guys and show what you can do and I\u2019m looking forward to whatever happens in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mood has been really good. I think it\u2019s a really consistent change room that Andy McDonald makes, regardless if you win or lose, I think you try and keep a pretty clear and calm head. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s obviously certain things that you would take out of that game that we know we didn\u2019t do quite right, but the mood has been really good, and I think we\u2019re looking forward to putting on a good show in Cape Town.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nortje ruled out of next Aussie Test | 00:21<\/p>\n
The South Africans, meanwhile, are buoyed by what happened when they shelved the loose shots that plagued them in Darwin and applied pressure on the Australians in the second Test, veteran off-spinner Simon Harmer said.<\/p>\n
While the Australians are adamant that having flexibility in the batting line-up is a strength, with adjustable orders the flavour of the month, the Proteas appear to have identified it as a weakness based on Harmer\u2019s comments to South African journalists following the innings and 31 run win in Gqeberha.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most frustrating thing was knowing there were a couple of guys who had either come back into their Test team or were playing out of position, and we weren\u2019t able to exploit that (in Durban),\u201d Harmer said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to do that in Gqeberha and put the pressure back onto them, to be 1-0 down and turn it around (was good). And to realise that they are human and if we bowl well and put them under pressure there is the possibility that we can get on top of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cDurban was a tough few days for us. We knew we weren\u2019t at the level we wanted to be at. I remember standing on the field and looking up at the scoreboard and seeing the boys that were on the field and being, like, \u2018Geez, this is a proper team.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody felt like we let ourselves down. So there was a lot of motivation and fire burning in the belly because we didn\u2019t put our best foot forward and that we lost not on our terms.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cameron Green has received medical clearance to resume his Test career ahead of Tuesday\u2019s series-decider against the Proteas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-940119","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\/940119","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=940119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}