ADELAIDE : Cameron Green is grateful slotting in at his preferred position having previously convinced himself he would need to open the batting to return to Australia’s Test side
Cameron Green admits part of his glee at being elevated to number four in Australia’s Test batting order stems from the hope he’ll be freed from the expectation he felt to score quickly in his previous role at number six.
Green had convinced himself that if he was to return to the starting XI, in which he was a regular fixture until last year’s Ashes tour, it would be as a direct replacement for retiring opener David Warner.
He was therefore excited and grateful when he learned last week that Steve Smith’s request to move to the top of the order had been granted and he would slot into his preferred number four position where he has dominated for Western Australia in the Marsh Sheffield Shield.
Green has averaged a touch above 65 when batting at four for WA, and therefore boasts considerable experience upon which to draw when he moves above number six for the first time in his 24-Test career.
But it’s a relaxing of the pressure he felt as the last recognised batter in Australia’s Test line-up, and more often the need he felt to continue the rapid scoring of whirlwind number five Travis Head, that most enthuses him about his impending promotion.
“I was so excited when I heard the news,” Green said today as Australia conducted their main training session ahead of the first NRMA Insurance Test against West Indies that begins at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.
“I thought I was about a 95 per cent chance of opening, so that’s where my head went for a couple of weeks and I’m grateful to be at four.