Cameron Green’s Red-Ball Focus Ahead of India Test Series
Cameron Green’s impressive performance in the Wellington Test, where he scored a match-winning 174 not out, has prompted Australian selectors to prioritize his red-ball preparation ahead of the upcoming home summer. Despite being in contention for the T20 World Cup, Green was left out of the T20I series against New Zealand to play Sheffield Shield cricket.
This decision paid off as Green scored an unbeaten 103 for Western Australia against Tasmania, helping his team secure a draw. Green himself credited this preparation for his stunning century in Wellington, where he was the only player to score more than 71 on a challenging batting surface.
With no Tests scheduled until the Border-Gavaskar series against India in late November, Australia will tour England for ODIs and T20Is in September and host Pakistan for similar matches in November. Green is expected to be a regular in both ODI and T20I sides, but coach Andrew McDonald emphasized the importance of prioritizing his red-ball preparation.
“The next stress point on that’s going to be next summer leading into the Indian Test series,” McDonald said. “I think it’ll be a conversation where he’s at. I’d like to probably err on the side of preparing him through red-ball. We know how good a white-ball player he is.”
McDonald acknowledged that not all multiformat players require the same preparation, but he believes Green would benefit from playing Shield games before the first Test against India.
“I think with the results he’s had out there, he’ll probably come to us and say can you give us a couple of Shield games before the first Test against India,” McDonald said.
McDonald also highlighted the importance of Shield cricket for other players, emphasizing that individual needs will be considered.
“We’ll use Shield cricket to get ready for the Test summer on an individual’s needs basis,” McDonald said. “There won’t be any [prescription that] this is what we’re doing with every player.”
New Zealand coach Gary Stead expressed his desire for his players to play more first-class cricket before Test matches.
“I would love as national coach to see us play some Plunkett Shield prior to going into Test matches and certainly it’s something that is high on my agenda to try and get New Zealand Cricket to keep thinking about the structure of our season,” Stead said.
McDonald praised Green’s performance at No.4, where he was recalled against West Indies.
“We think he can be a long-term option there and I think this is a big step towards that,” McDonald said. “The conversations are always that he’s obviously a quality player and probably the statistics that everyone was looking at early on in his career probably didn’t reflect the player that’s in front of us.”