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Australia face a nervous wait on the fitness of allrounder Cameron Green after he was ruled out of the final two ODIs against England with a back injury.
Green underwent scans after reporting soreness following the third ODI in Durham, where he bowled a spell of sustained short balls, and will undergo further assessment on returning home to understand the full extent of the injury.
“Cameron Green has sustained a back injury and will play no further part in the ODI tour of England,” a Cricket Australia statement said. “Scans in London overnight revealed the injury after Green reported soreness following the third ODI against England in Durham. He will return home for further assessment where his return to play management plan will be determined.”
Green has previously suffered stress fractures of the back as he was coming through the domestic system and again in 2019, the year before he made his Test debut.
While no timeline has yet been laid out for any potential layoff, if Green was sidelined for an extended period, it would have various knock-on effects to Australia’s planning for their home summer, and particularly the Test series against India, beyond the fact Green was appearing to re-establish himself in the Test side after the 174 not out in Wellington.
He is currently a key figure amid the debate about the structure of Australia’s top order and where Steven Smith bats. If Green wasn’t available there would be a middle-order vacancy which would allow Smith back to No. 4 and the potential of a specialist opener coming in alongside Usman Khawaja.
Earlier this month, head coach Andrew McDonald said the incumbent top six of Australia’s Test side would, barring injury, be the players who start the series against India but whether Smith will open was up for debate.
If there was a need to bring in a player from outside that group it would open the door for the likes of Cameron Bancroft, Matt Renshaw and Marcus Harris. Renshaw was the reserve batter during the series against West Indies and New Zealand earlier this year following David Warner’s retirement.
Then there would be the loss of Green’s overs. Last month Pat Cummins talked about his expectations that Green and Mitchell Marsh would have a vital role to play in sharing the workload with Australia’s frontline attack during the Tests. If it was only bowling that proved an issue for Green there would be the option of playing him as a specialist batter.
“We know with Cameron Green, he has had stress fractures in his back in the past. Let’s hope it’s not that,” Ricky Ponting said on Sky Sports. “They still have the option of playing him as a batsman if it’s not too bad.”
Without Green’s bowling it would put the spotlight back on Marsh’s role. He had not bowled since picking up an injury during the IPL until taking the ball at Lord’s where he removed Will Jacks in his second over. Marsh’s lack of recent bowling had not been a significant concern for the limited-overs teams with a number of pace-bowling allrounders available.
Green had been expected to feature in at least one Sheffield Shield match in October before the start of Australia’s home international season. Pakistan visit for T20Is and ODIs ahead of the Tests against India which start on November 22 in Perth.
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