Cameron Green may be given some rest in the white-ball series versus Pakistan in November. This would be done to keep the all-rounder in the best form ahead of the red-ball leg against India. India will be defending the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a five-match Test series against Australia. In the previous two Test series, Australia has lost both at home and have not defeated India in 10 years.
Speaking with media on Monday, McDonald stated that, considering the preparation for the New Zealand tour, he anticipates Green playing more Shield games prior to the series against India.
He said, “We felt that by keeping Cam in one format for a period of time gave him the best chance, and that won’t always be the case with everyone. The next stress point on that will be next summer, leading into the Indian Test series where we’ve got Pakistan in ODI cricket and T20 cricket. The white-ball cricket’s important, but geez that Test summer’s important, so I think with the results he’s had (at Wellington) he’ll probably come to us and say ‘can you give us a couple of Shield games before the first Test against India?’.”
“He’s a quality player” : Australian Head coach Andrew McDonald
Green earned his Test debut versus India during the 2020–21 series. The all-rounder’s recent undefeated 174 versus the Kiwis in Wellington was his coming-of-age innings, which helped Australia win by 172 runs.McDonald thinks that moving Green up to the No. 4 position was the best choice.
The Australian Head-coach said, “His preferred position, as we’ve seen in Shield cricket, is number four and we think he can be a long-term option there. This is a big step towards that. The conversations are that he’s a quality player, and the statistics that everyone was looking at early in his (international) career probably didn’t reflect the player that was in front of us.”
Australia would be next in action during the final Test match of their New Zealand tour. The second and last Test is all set to start in Christchurch on March 8th.
