Cameron Green may skip Pakistan series to focus on Sheffield Sheild ahead of India challenge

Camron Green scored 174 runs in first innings of the first test match against New Zealand.

Following his match-winning knock against New Zealand in the first test, Cameron Green could prioritize playing more first-class cricket domestically for Australia over Pakistan’s white-ball series because he wants to prepare well for the big test series against India later in the year at home. The all-rounder made his test debut against India in the 2020-21 series.

All-rounder Cameron Green’s fantastic century helped Australia beat the Black Caps by 172 runs at the Basin Reserve. The margin of victory was almost equal to Green’s first innings knock against New Zealand. He smashed his career-best 174*, which was the second ton of his test career. 

Green was not included in Australia’s T20 squad against the West Indies and New Zealand so that he could go and play for his domestic side Western Australia, in the Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in Hobart. 

This move worked very well as the all-rounder rescued his side from 89/4 with a counter-attacking 174* off 275 balls in the first test against New Zealand. During his stay, he smashed 23 fours and five sixes in the first innings.

A comprehensive victory for the Aussies in Wellington!Nathan Lyon finishes with match figures of 10-108 #NZvAUS pic.twitter.com/0obsbQ46l9

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 3, 2024

Green also shared a 116-run stand for the last wicket with Josh Hazelwood as the visitors got their first innings total of 383, which was crucial in setting the base for a 172-run win to go 1-0 up in the two-match Test series.

Australia’s next international home summer will kickoff with the white-ball series (ODIs and T20Is) against Pakistan. After that Australia will take on India in a five-match test series.

Australian head coach McDonald feels Cameron Green might play more Shield games

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Australian head coach McDonald felt that Cameron Green might play more Shield games ahead of the very important five-match test series against India, as first-class cricket helped Green to prepare well for New Zealand.

“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?’,” McDonald said.

Furthermore, McDonald feels that promoting Cameron Green to the No. 4 spot has been the best move so far. He also feels that the Australian side can stick with their decision for a long period of time.

“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,” McDonald said.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.