Australia head coach worried about Cameron’s Green bowling load during Border-Gavaskar series

Injury to Australian all-rounder Cameron Green came at a time when he was peaking in both batting and bowling, causing trouble to the team in trying to fill his shoes. Ahead of his first major away tour in the Border-Gavaskar series, Green is unsure about his participation in the first Test that is scheduled to start on February 9th in Nagpur. Speaking about his at-hand condition, Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald said Green’s biggest challenge during the India series will be his bowling. It was during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa when Green fractured his finger and has been out since.

Already making steady progress in a short pre-series camp organised by the team management in Sydney, Green is slated to meet a bone surgeon on Monday after which only the picture about his participation in the Nagpur Test will be cleared. Revealing the motive behind staging this camp, McDonald, as quoted by Cricbuzz, said,

“Where he’s positioned at the moment, his biggest challenge is bowling,” McDonald said. “There is a lack of loading there, and one of the key reasons around us getting into this camp early is to make sure that we’re ready to go for the rigours of what the bowling unit [is] going to encompass. Building confidence is the main thing, setting him up to succeed in that first Test match, having enough time, that will be the critical question.”

Commenting on what does Green brings to the table, the head coach said there is no doubt that the 23-year-old is a superb batter while his bowling is a plus for the team.  McDonald further said just in case Green doesn’t get fit in time for the first Test, the management has Peter Handscomb waiting in the wings for his long-deserved chance. Admitting having more options under their sleeves is always a better plan, McDonald said,

“We value his batting first and foremost really, he’s a batter in our top six and we value that, his bowling is a bonus. A very nice bonus. We see Handscomb as an important right-hand option. We’ve got a lot of left handers. If there were to be any late changes, or Cameron Green doesn’t make that first Test, we feel we have some good options.”

Speaking on Mitchell Starc’s progress as he also is recovering from an injury he sustained during the same Test as that of Green, Andrew said they are not willing to rush into Starc’s case, who is already ruled out of the first Test.

“The [finger] guard needs to stay on. It’s really to protect against the knock that would then re-injure that ligament. That’s why it’s a clear-cut deadline to mitigate against any of that risk. We can’t accelerate that to be honest. It’s probably frustrating for Mitch that he feels that good. But the good thing is when he does get out of the splint all his workloads are going to be up to speed and it will be pretty much into that second Test, which is good news to us,” McDonald added.