NEWS
Follow UsAustralia all-rounder Cameron Green has no intention of deprioritising his secondary skill, which is his bowling, at least for the next 10 years. The 25-year-old will only start thinking about managing his workload once he gets closer to 35. Green has proven his worth with the bat in red-ball cricket, having scored 1,377 runs at an average of 36.23, but hasn’t done much in the bowling department. The tall seamer has 35 wickets at an average of 35.31 and a strike rate of 62.5.
"I've thought about it as an 'in 10 years' time sort of thing'. But definitely, at the moment, I'm very happy to contribute as much as I can. Physically, I'm in a really good place to be able to do that,” Green told Cricket.com.au.
"We always laugh and joke between me and Mitch [Marsh] about who bowls those graveyard overs between the 70th and the 80th overs when the ball is not doing anything. We'll wait and see how we do it this summer.
"But now my body's in a really good place where I feel like I can contribute with bowling. Down the track, it's definitely an option, but at the moment, I'm very happy to be a genuine allrounder."
Australia didn’t need many overs from Green and Marsh last summer but that could change during this year's Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Australia haven’t defeated India in a Test series since 2014-15 and have even lost the last two home series.
"In some ways, we haven't had to use them as much as we thought we would, which is a great thing. The last couple of summers have been pretty light [with] quick Test matches,” Australian captain Pat Cummins said this week.
"I suspect this summer might be a bit different at times. We'll be drawing on Cam Green and Mitch Marsh a bit more. Even someone like Cam basically started in Shield cricket as a bowler but hasn't had to bowl heaps in Test matches. Now he is a few years older, I think we will be leaning on him a bit more."
Green had to miss some white-ball cricket earlier this year to prepare for the Test series in New Zealand and it paid rich dividends. The big man featured in a Sheffield Shield match for Western Australia and slammed an unbeaten ton against Tasmania. He then went to New Zealand and smashed 174* in the first Test in Wellington.
Green, however, has now made it clear that he doesn’t want to miss out on any white-ball cricket, especially with the Champions Trophy coming up in February next year. The all-rounder is part of Australia’s white-ball squads for next month's tour of the United Kingdom.
"Obviously had a bit of success with it last year. Having an extended break (from white-ball cricket) before a Test tour, it's going to help for sure. I really enjoyed doing it last year and there's potentially a chance to do it again this year.
"I obviously love playing for WA, playing Shield cricket is awesome, I think it's the best preparation you can have for a Test tour. But at the same time you always want to play for Australia, especially when there always seems to be a World Cup or a Champions Trophy just around the corner.
"If you decide not to do a white-ball series, is it going to hurt your chances for the Champions Trophy, for example? There's always these things you've got to weigh up. So it's still up in the air."
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