Cameron Green says the long, slow rehabilitation from back surgery is almost over, and he sees no reason to be wrapped in cotton wool by the time the Ashes begin in Perth on 21 November.
“It’s been a long 12 months, but feeling really good,” Green said on Friday. “The body’s in a good place. It’s been a really good rehab journey. I feel stronger, fitter, my action feels good.”
The Western Australia all-rounder will send down his first competitive deliveries in a year when the state opens its Sheffield Shield campaign against New South Wales at the WACA on Saturday. For this match he is capped at eight overs in total—captain Sam Whiteman has the unenviable task of spreading them sensibly across four days—but the plan is for the shackles to come off gradually over the next two Shield rounds and Australia’s one-day series against India.
“It will be eight overs for the game,” Green confirmed. “Just a steady build-up. The first Test should be no restrictions. That’s kind of the whole plan of the last year. That’s why it’s been such a slow build-up—so that you’re peaking by the time the Ashes comes around.”
Batting up the order
Despite being Australia’s incumbent No. 3, Green will walk in at No. 4 for WA this week. State coach Adam Voges prefers to keep Jayden Goodwin in at first drop, where he has settled, while Green’s record at No. 4 in Shield cricket—an average north of 67 with five hundreds—speaks for itself. The selectors are comfortable with the mismatch, believing Test players should slot in where their states need them most.
Whether he stays at No. 3 for Australia remains open. The usual query resurfaces: can a fast-medium bowler deliver meaningful spells and still carry the load of batting so high? Green points to history—and to the presence of another all-rounder in the XI.
“Shane Watson used to open the batting and bowl,” he said. “People probably don’t realise how tough that was. Spending so long in the field bowling, and then expected to go out there and bat the last 10 overs of the day for example, is really challenging. But I think I’m in a bit of a different place. Let’s say I’m batting up the top, and Beau’s batting six, for example—he might take more of the [bowling] load.”
Selection sub-plots
Saturday’s fixture also offers a glimpse of Ashes intrigue from a New South Wales perspective. Twenty-year-old opener Sam Konstas is in the visitors’ squad and has the opening rounds of the Shield season to push again for a Test berth. The right-hander endured a lean tour of the Caribbean last summer, yet national selectors still rate his temperament.
Bowling-wise, WA hope to have Lance Morris operating at full pace, which would give Green welcome company if the pitch lives up to its usual bounce. NSW counter with Chris Tremain’s skilful seamers and a fit-again Sean Abbott.
Analysis
Green’s return matters for balance as much as for raw numbers. Australia’s preferred plan is four specialist bowlers, Green providing the fifth seam option, and Beau Webster’s medium-pace‐spin mix acting as a sixth if needed. Without Green’s overs, selectors would be tempted to draft a front-line quick and drop a batter, nudging the top six out of shape. No wonder his eight over ration this week will be watched almost as closely as his batting.
He himself sounds relaxed, almost matter-of-fact. The real test, of course, comes not in rehearsals but in the middle of a five-Test Ashes series squeezed into six weeks. For now, though, both player and medical staff appear satisfied the rehab has done its job.
“I feel stronger, fitter, my action feels good,” he repeated, a touch like someone who has been answering the same query for months. If the next six weeks go to plan, he may not have to field that question again for a while.
