Cameron Green’s recent fifty at No. 3 against West Indies was not just a big personal achievement for a guy who had once been out with a dodgy back and had only a suitcase of unconverted starts to show for it, it felt like the beginning of something. The type of innings that doesn’t set the world on fire; an innings that changes the narrative without dominating headlines. Green has struggled since he was promoted up the order – he has one whole digit (8) next to his name – but after grinding out a gritty 52 in Grenada, it could be the innings that rallies his Test career- and shuts down grumbling he deserves to be at first drop.
The No.3 Challenge: Green’s Real Test Begins
Being No.3 in Test cricket for Australia means more than a number on the team’s sheet — it is a legacy. Ponting, Labuschagne, even Smith at times — it is where the best are supposed to make it work. For Cameron Green, the promotion came with an eyebrow raise and fair scrutiny. Until Saturday, his numbers weren’t aiding his case either: 4, 0, 3, 15, 26 — more like a phone number than an average.
But Test cricket is, as Green is well aware, a game of patience. And his 52 from 123 balls was not only about runs — it was a lesson in perseverance. There was not much charity from the Grenada pitch, and Green acknowledged he never really felt ‘in’. But he weathered the storm, batted with Smith, and knocked up a 93-run partnership that got Australia in a strong position. He looked more settled, more in control — and possibly, for the first time at No.3, he looked like he belonged.
The Long Road Back: Surgery, County Runs & Silent Grit
Let’s not forget – this is a guy who missed the whole 2024-25 home season due to back surgery. And if Cameron Green’s comeback has reinforced one thing, it’s his quiet determination. Instead of charging into the glamour of an international return, he chose the county route – and he made it count. Three hundred in five matches for Gloucestershire what Being in simply the good form, it was a statement: I’m still here.
However, the truth is that a County hundred and a Test fifty are not equal, and Green knows that. His innings in Grenada weren’t in themselves “spectacular but did meet the right criteria: temperament, selection of options, and possibly the most important, time in the middle. “Balls faced trending upwards,” as he said wryly, is precisely what Australia wanted from him. The runs will come — they always do when the mentality clicks.
The Allrounder Wait: Bat First, Bowl Later
What is interesting is that Green is not even operating at capacity. He is not bowling, not because he can’t, but because the team is monitoring his workload after surgery. And yet, he still holds his spot on a very competitive Aussie XI. That must mean something.
Green himself recognized this: to sneak back into the XI as a specialist batter while not providing overs is a rarity within Australian cricket. However, he does have plans for a gradual return, with a possible bowling return by the Shield matches or the ODIs against India in October. Until then, the bat has to do the talking — and after Grenada, it finally is.
If Green can marry that batting solidity to his bowling returns later this year, Australia may have finally found the real deal they have always described as an all-rounder – not just potential, but productive potential.
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