As Australia attempts to establish a batting order before the Ashes later this year, Pat Cummins has hinted that Cameron Green may be given a longer run to solidify his position as the No. 3 batsman in Test cricket.
After being bowled twice by Kagiso Rabada for just four runs in five balls during his comeback to the team in the World Test Championship final against South Africa, Green has been urged not to place too much emphasis on his lacklustre performances. Prior to that game, he had amassed three hundred runs for Gloucestershire.
Steven Smith’s injury created a chance for Green to drop back down to No. 4, where he made 174 not out against New Zealand last year, for the first Test match against the West Indies in Barbados. However, Josh Inglis will fill that spot as part of a new top four that also includes the recalled Sam Konstas.
Cummins remarked, “I always like to not have too many moving parts,” We consider [Green at No. 3] to be a long-term choice.
I believe he was striking the ball and moving extremely well heading into last week. Clearly, his Test match did not go as planned. The message is not to investigate that too much because it is believed that he only faced three or four balls. We’re quite pleased with his game’s positioning, and I’m willing to venture that we’ll have a respectable run at number three.”
In order to push for a return to play against England, Marnus Labuschagne will probably need to make a lot of runs at the beginning of the Sheffield Shield season, barring injury.
“I think him at his best is a well and truly an international standard Test batter,” Cummins stated. “He might eventually fight his way back into the Test squad if a spot opens up. Giving a few more people a try is obviously the main priority right now. “We are giving that opportunity to the next couple of guys because he had a pretty good run and clearly didn’t make the most of it as well as he would like.”
As Smith continues to recuperate from the compound dislocation of his right little finger that he sustained at Lord’s, there is still hope that he will be ready for the second Test in Grenada, which begins on July 3. In the middle of the Barbados Test, he is scheduled to return from New York. “He’s got a few return-to-play kind of protocols he’s got to tick off,” Cummins stated. “I know the medical team have got a bit of a program for him.”
Shamar Joseph has been mentioned frequently in the lead-up to this Test, even though just three of the top six players—Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, and Travis Head—participated in the Gabba Test early last year, which the West Indies famously won.
In response to a question about whether the Australia lineup would have any lasting memories of that day, new skipper Roston Chase, who was not present at that Test, smiled and seemed to laugh.
His words, “I hope there are some scars,” “I mean, it would be great for us if they were still considering heading out there tomorrow. That, in my opinion, would constitute a component of the work completed for us. I hope they’re still in pain, then.
Speaking before Chase, Cummins stated, “A few of the West Indian men, especially Shamar, took a day out. The hitters [have] undoubtedly been discussing how to control him and combat that.