Australia’s main coach, Andrew McDonald, hints broadly at giving Cameron Green a rest. This might happen during the series against Pakistan in the next summer. Andrew McDonald’s main goal is to prepare for the red-ball match against India.
India is all set to come to Australia for a five-game Test series. India will be defending the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Australia has not managed to defeat India in a Test series for 10 years. This includes the two most recent ones at their home ground in the years 2018-19 and 2020-21.
Andrew McDonald told reporters on Monday that he expects Green to play more Shield games ahead of the series against India, considering the training he had during the New Zealand trip.
“We felt that by keeping Cam in one format for a period of time gave him the best chance, and that won’t always be the case with everyone. The next stress point on that will be next summer, leading into the Indian Test series where we’ve got Pakistan in ODI cricket and T20 cricket. The white-ball cricket’s important, but geez that Test summer’s important, so I think with the results he’s had (at Wellington) he’ll probably come to us and say ‘can you give us a couple of Shield games before the first Test against India?.”
Andrew McDonald
Green’s Test debut came against India in 2020-21. The youngster’s coming-of-age innings was the recent undefeated 174 against New Zealand in Wellington, which helped Australia win by 172 runs.
Andrew McDonald reveals why Cameron Green is the best choice for number four spot
Andrew McDonald feels moving Green to the No.4 place was the best choice, adding:
“His preferred position, as we’ve seen in Shield cricket, is number four and we think he can be a long-term option there. This is a big step towards that. The conversations are that he’s a quality player, and the statistics that everyone was looking at early in his (international) career probably didn’t reflect the player that was in front of us.”
Andrew McDonald
On March 8, the second Test between Australia and New Zealand kicks off in Christchurch.