I get it, I do. Really. A fast bowler who scores fast runs is very exciting.
It combines the two most alpha things you can do in cricket – bowl bouncers and hit sixes.
Jack Gregory. Keith Miller. Imran Khan. Ian Botham. Kapil Dev. Andrew Flintoff. Ben Stokes.
And now… Cameron Green.
Off the back of some good innings in a Sheffield Shield match and one day game, he’s the latest Hot Young Thing in Australian cricket.
A generational talent, said one report. The next Nathan Coulter-Nile said another.
A future Andy Flintoff said Ryan Harris.
Green is hot stuff.
Like I say, I’m sympathetic.
In a summer where three of the most thrilling batsmen in the country are having a mental health break, the bowling order is super settled and the opening slot is being fought over by the been-around-for-a-while troika of Marcus Harris, Joe Burns and Cam Bancroft… who doesn’t like the idea of an Aussie Flintoff?
It’s a bright, shiny new toy to talk about.
A couple of things to keep in mind, though.
First – can we be careful of hyping this kid? To be fair, all the articles hyping him are careful to go “give him time”, “it’s early days”, all that stuff – but they’re still hyping him.
Sometimes too much: I feel the highly respected Ryan Harris invoking the name of Andy Flintoff at this stage of the game is terribly unhelpful. And unfair.
Because Australia doesn’t have a terrific track record of finding the next Keith Miller at Test level. They tend to either flop (Phil Carlson, Simon O’Donnell, Mitch Marsh), get injured and leave the game really young (Ron Archer), or be crushed under unrealistic expectations: Gary Gilmour and Shane Watson both had a couple of great years in red ball cricket but most of the time seemed to have “unfulfilled potential” tattooed to their foreheads.
Second – if Green does maintain his current form, can we actually give some thought as to how he might fit in the national side in a way that’s useful? Far too often with all rounders the temptation is to go “quick, quick, get them in before they go stale” without figuring how best to go about it.
Cameron Green is a rising star of Australian cricket. (AAP Image/Jono Searle)
If we’re incredibly lucky and he’s like Adam Gilchrist or Kapil Dev, good enough to be picked for one discipline alone, then it’s easy – just pick him for that job, and whatever else he can do is a fabulous bonus.
But most all rounders aren’t like that – normally they’re not quite good enough to be a specialist bowler or batsman. Flintoff wasn’t. Stokes isn’t. Marsh isn’t. Greg Matthews wasn’t. Watson was for a few years when opening with Katich, then kind of was, then wasn’t.
Which is fine – as long as you accept they need to be counter balanced by another all rounder. If not, you risk either weakening the batting or the bowling… something that happened for too often to England when Flintoff played, and to Australia when Greg Matthews played. And Simon O’Donnell. And Shane Watson. And Moises Henriques. And Mitch Marsh.
England learned their lesson with Stokes and make sure he’s complemented by another all rounder (Moeen Ali, Sam Curran)… Has Australia also learned?
Anyway, welcome to the spotlight, Cameron Green. It might make you thrive, or wilt, or have no effect. But it’s on you now.
Can we just dim it a little for the bloke?
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
@Stephen V great there's still someone left in Australia with some common sense :) Unfortunately, your sensible article has landed on deaf ears - it is Australia 2019 and no one's interested in logical, sensible or careful. Those days belong to a quaint old bygone era. This is the era of empty superlatives, 10 minute concentration spans, hit, giggle, check your phone again. So there's no chance this new kid (or any kid) will not be the new white hope. Hyped to the hilt today - forgotten tomorrow. Selected on the basis of nothing much, bad luck he failed today, rejected tomorrow. New white hopes come and go like T20 internationals - was it Green, yellow or white. I'm bored so let's get on the next bus.
Brett A
Roar Rookie
Agree with this. Stokes is a great player, but is overrated. Consider how Stokes is talked about ("one of the best ever!!!!!") with a Test batting average of 35.5 and Test bowling average of 32.7. Compare that to Chris Woakes (27.9 & 31.2) and Sam Curran (30.1 & 29.0). Both these guys are in and out of the team, barely spoken about.
Jak
Guest
Stokes’s batting alone justifies his place. As did Flintoff’s bowling. In mediocre English sides they did.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
And that "40% of batsmen in the top 6" is just the actual top 6 positions across the top 10 Test nations (i.e. 60). There have been far more many batsmen than that who have played in the top 6 for each Test nation across that 2 year period.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Yes Dave J. Exactly re the 40 average. The benchmark of a batsman averaging low 40s to "justify" his consideration as a "Test quality" batsman went out the window some time ago.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
"35 for a test number 6 (which, in an ideal world, is where Stokes would be batting) is perfectly acceptable." Yep. Peoples need to adjust their expectations of what modern day (last 10 years) batsmen average in Test cricket. I haven't looked at the figures since July, but at that time, only 24 batsmen from all Test nations were averaging above 39 over the previous 2 years. To look at that another way, only 40% of batsmen in all of the world's top 6 are doing so.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Though didn't go missing today.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
But...Stokes is only taking up one spot in the XI. So if we say a batsman *should* average 40 in Test cricket (but let's be clear on this; less than 30 batsmen - or only "half of the top 6 in Tests worldwide - are doing so over the last 3 years) and a bowler *should* average...27(?)....then that "other spot" only needs to be filled by a player who can at least fill that differential.
Micko
Roar Rookie
We're desperate for a champion all-rounder as we hardly produce any, that's why we overhype every single one who looks like they have the potential to be one. Selectors pick them when they don't really deserve to be picked.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Seems to be on an upward trajectory too. But it’s not useful often enough to compensate for a moderate batting average a la Watson and Stokes. His Test bowling average in the high thirties whereas those two are in the low thirties.
matth
Roar Guru
To be fair to Mitch Marsh, in the right conditions, when fit, his bowling is very useful.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Not injury prone. Just growing into a 200 cm body as a young man. He has grown 15cm in the last 3 years.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
PS if you want a see another, perhaps even bigger, great white hope for Oz cricket, Jake Fraser-McGurk who just debuted at 17 for Victoria looks special. 50 on debut in Shield and Marsh Cup and almost got them home in the next Marsh Cup game with a 40-odd not out. In the bits I saw he looked like he had shots all around the ground, great composure, shot selection and confidence in the bits I saw. Looked outstanding for 17.
ken gargett
Guest
it was shocking work by the umps but an equally shocking and pointless, seemingly desperate, review just before. stupid stuff. plenty of blame to go around. as for the innings, had he been rightly given lbw and as much as he strikes me as a tosser, you'd still have to say it was a magnificent innings, just not a matchwinning one.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
It may be ideal, but very few teams have all six top order guys batting over 40, What was the last Australian team to do so? 2007? If your fifth bowler can make a genuine difference with the ball occasionally, then statistically it probably contribute sufficiently to make a 35 average worth over 40. But it has to be a good enough bowler like Stokes or Watson. Marsh doesn’t cut it as either batsman or bowler. Flintoff was slightly below par as a batsman to bat in the top 6. If they were picking Ali to complement Stokes that was silly. You have to play your best spinner. But fully agree re Green. He’s should prove himself as a top order bat or as front line bowler to make the Test team in my view. The fact that he didn’t even bowl in the last game against NSW underlines that he‘s a bit injury prone.
Paul
Roar Guru
nah, I blame the umpires who I thought were not that great in that series - for both sides.
Paul
Roar Guru
His bowling figures in Shield this season are 2/72 and 1/44. That works out to be 3 wickets at just under 39 a wicket. You have a strange idea about "setting alight", Don.
Jero
Roar Rookie
Don't get me started about the burnt review the over before. Let responsibility be borne by all responsible.
Jero
Roar Rookie
Seems there's no argument at all here, and that we're splitting hairs. We would all pick him, we would all have him in the middle order, it's just a matter of where. As Paul suggested, he bats at 5 simply due to lack of alternatives. He still holds his place in the team as a batsman, albeit as the all rounder variant with 135 Test wickets at a 32.71 average. Who happens to have game-changing abilities few others do. Great cricketer.
Paul
Roar Guru
and if he was given lbw as he should have been, there would not have been that one magnificent innings!