Brad Haddin delivers truth bomb to Cameron Green amid push for Test selection
The former Australian wicketkeeper has told Cam Green to miss the IPL to manage his heavy workload.
Former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Harris has told Cameron Green that he must make sacrifices as he pushes for a permanent spot in Australia's Test side. The young Aussie is one of the most exciting cricketers to emerge from the Australian set-up but finds himself at a crossroads entering the 2023/24 summer of cricket.
The West Australian scored a maiden Test century in Ahmedabad earlier this year, securing his spot at No. 6 for the Ashes campaign in England. But a minor hamstring strain ahead of the third Test saw Mitch Marsh replace him and score an impressive 118 in Leeds to leapfrog Green in the pecking order.
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With the 24-year-old losing his spot in the starting side across all three formats, Haddin has urged the youngster to forego a foreign pay-cheque to avoid burning out and to ensure he is playing his best cricket for his state to give him the best possible chance of being recalled to the Test side. "I don’t think he would have had a harder period in his career than what he has over the last six or seven months,” Haddin said on Fox Cricket’s The Follow On Podcast. "He spent the best part of six months away from home and he is still only a young man finding his feet in international cricket.
"He will have a great opportunity to sit back and reflect on that and take some good points out of it and take some points that he can maybe work on in the future, but it will also give him a plan on how he can prepare for his Test cricket. If you look at the three fast bowlers (Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc), they have had stages where they have sat out of IPL and prioritised Test cricket and maybe at times, Cameron Green might have to do that, depending on his workload. I know he is still learning the craft, and IPL is a great way to do that, but if the load does get too big, he will have to make some sacrifices along the road, I imagine, to be peaking still in Test cricket."
On Sunday morning, Green was named in Australia's 14-man Test side for the series against Pakistan in Perth, where he will be the reserve batsman. Despite finding it hard to see barring injury how Green would make the first XI, the 24-year-old sent a timely reminder to selectors of his capabilities with a classy 96 against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield at the Gabba in his first match back.
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Before the Test summer begins, Green will take part in the Prime Minister's XI match this week against Pakistan at Canberra’s Manuka Oval. Joining him are other fringe Test prospects including Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris and Matthew Renshaw, who are all pushing for David Warner's place in the Test side when he retires following the Sydney Test.
Bancroft has been the best batsman in Sheffield Shield over the past two seasons, smashing almost 300 more runs than the next best last summer and has continued the run of form into the start of this season. The 31-year-old was overlooked for Australia's Ashes squad in June, with selectors taking Marcus Harris instead.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald, however, has not ruled out the possibility of Green ultimately coming into the side, with Marnus Labuschagne potentially moving up from No.3 to open. "What does Cam Green's future look like in the Test team? Is it a matter of waiting for Mitch to finish or could there be another spot that opens up over time?" McDonald said on SEN last week.
"He has batted at six for most of his Test cricket, but he has been a fantastic No.4 for WA and averages close to 50 in Shield cricket. There is always the idea that you can potentially shift the order to make room to put your best six batters, or what you see as best six batters, in a certain order, and we have seen that in Australian cricket before."
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