Number 3 role beckons for Green as he is ‘just happy to bat’ ahead of the impending WTC Finals against South Africa.
Green happy to ‘just bat’ for now as Number 3 role beckons.
As he gets ready to continue his Test career in what looks to be a new capacity, Cameron Green is seeing the advantages of being able to concentrate solely on his batting. However, he is adamant about returning to being a full-fledged all-rounder for Australia later this year.
Green, who missed the entire home season due to back surgery in October, is coming off three centuries for Gloucestershire going into the World Test Championship final against South Africa. This is not the first time in his career that he has experienced the consequences of having to park the other side of his game.
“The silver lining to having four back injuries is I’ve got four chances only to be a batter,” he said. “I felt like my game’s always been good around those periods. I’m always going to keep bowling, but you’re so much more relaxed [with] half a game to worry about. When you’re bowling and batting, there’s so much more you have to do bowling-wise to keep yourself fit and ready to play. It does take away from batting. So, certainly, just batting is nice.”
Even though the stress fracture could have healed on its own over the course of nine months to a year, Green’s decision to have surgery was ultimately not difficult. In addition to receiving support from Jasprit Bumrah, who messaged the night before the treatment, he relied on the experience of others who had had the procedure, particularly Ben Dwarshuis and his Western Australia teammate Jason Behrendorff.
“He was in the middle of a Test match in India,” Green said. “Just a few things like that are really special and makes you feel a lot better about it. To get someone like him to reach out and then to watch him during the summer, to see how good he is obviously post-surgery, filled me with a lot of confidence.”