You almost never want to be at the centre of Australia’s cricket conversation. Occasionally a player gets the spotlight for a good reason, like a run of form that is such deep purple that it leaves smoke on the water. But far more often, the move to centre stage is due to audience dissatisfaction: the desire to express angst about who isn’t playing well, who is getting an unfair advantage, who should already have made way for a worthier candidate unjustly confined to a lower grade of competition. Marnus Labuschagne is the latest occupant.
Cameron Green has never made it to the middle of that spotlight, but in recent months he had started to nudge into its circumference. Throughout his career he has been described as a player of potential, seen in terms of what he can be rather than what he is. The idea of a two-metre fast bowler who can also smash hundreds is compelling. But at some point players of potential have to deliver on it.
Green debuted in 2020, the year is now 2024. He has played 27 Tests, as many as serious cricketers like Bill O’Reilly, Bob Cowper, Darren Lehmann and Bruce Reid. So there was public dissent after David Warner’s retirement in January, when the batting order was unconventionally reshaped to accommodate Green at No 4.
