- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Cameron Green has silenced critics who questioned whether he was getting preferential treatment at the selection table.
The 22-year-old all-rounder had underperformed with the bat for the first three Tests of the Ashes series but after hitting form with 74 in the second innings of the fourth Test at the SCG, he backed that up with the same score in Australia’s first innings on day one of the series finale in Hobart.
There had been talk that he could have made way instead of Marcus Harris following the re-emergence of Usman Khawaja.
Green’s innings at Blundstone Arena was his most important in his ninth match at Test level, coming to the crease late in the first innings after Australia had slumped to 4-83.
The towering Western Australian stood tall and, in partnership with centurion Travis Head, unleashed an array of forceful shots off the front and back foot.
He hit three fours as he made his way to 50 off 80 deliveries and found the boundary five more times as he equalled last week’s total in Sydney.
Green was brought undone when English speedster Mark Wood bumped him from around the wicket and he took the bait, pulling a short delivery to the boundary where Zak Crawley had been placed to take the catch.
Feast your eyes on this! ????#Ashes pic.twitter.com/EWfuRvQB6P
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 14, 2022
“This is the best Cameron Green has looked with the bat all series,” former Test batter Mark Waugh enthused on Fox Cricket.
Former Australian captain Greg Chappell believes Green can reach the heights of some of the nation’s great all-rounders like Steve Waugh, Keith Miller and Shane Watson.
Marnus won’t tone down appeals
Marnus Labuschagne copped plenty of criticism for his over-enthusiastic appeals for video reviews during the Ashes but the Australian batter says he won’t be changing his approach.
Labuschagne started trending on social media on day five of the drawn fourth Test in Sydney when the hosts were pushing for wickets to secure victory and he made a couple of errors while appealing.
He campaigned for Pat Cummins to review a potential Jack Leach caught behind off Scott Boland which was overturned after earlier receiving plenty of derision when he was the only fielder to go up when Jos Buttler played and missed at a delivery from the skipper.
Replays showed it was a long way from the edge of Buttler’s bat.
Labuschagne told The Unplayable podcast that the team had a process in deciding whether to review on-field verdicts in which the slips cordon and keeper Alex Carey work in concert with Cummins.
Let's give Labuschagne an E for Effort on that appeal ???? #Ashes pic.twitter.com/To5SxDKPMJ
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 9, 2022
“Those guys are front on to the ball right so they’ve got the noise and the visual. Being at cover or point, I’ve got no insight of how close the ball is to the bat. All I have is noise and timing,” he said.
“On the one that we reviewed, the reason we reviewed it is because there’s about seven people that went up and everyone thought noise and the timings were good.
“It has been a little bit of a comical view because I appeal, but I only appeal because I heard a noise. I’m not doing it to try and sort of stand out or do something that’s out of the ordinary.
“With that [Buttler] one in particular, no one else went up and that’s how it goes sometimes and obviously we didn’t review that because Pat exactly said, mate he missed that by a fair way’ and I said perfect. I can’t see that. All I can go off is noise.
“If you’re standing at second or first [slip] or keeper you’ve got the noise matching up with the gap between bat and ball but when you’re at cover you don’t have that. When I hear a noise, I don’t wait for everyone to appeal. I appeal because I thought it was bat.
“It looked a bit silly and I’ve copped a bit of heat for appealing but at the end of the day, your job is to ask the question of the umpire. That’s it.
“It’s not my fault that everyone gets to watch it 400 times on super slow-mo and see that he missed the ball by a ball’s width.
“You see the funny side but that’s why there’s a process.”
Labuschagne, who also said he had made adjustments to his technique after being dismissed three times in as many innings by Mark Wood in the past two Tests in the lead-up to the Ashes series finale in Hobart, was out on day one in the most unusual circumstances.
Steve Smith and Pat Cummins were seen smirking after the replay of the dismissal was broadcast – the Queenslander walked across his stumps, slipped and was left flat on his face as the ball crashed into his stumps.
Unfortunate end to a very good innings from Marnus Labuschagne #Ashes pic.twitter.com/9dRzOgRume
— Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB) January 14, 2022
“I’ve never seen a dismissal like this,” said former England opener Mike Atherton, who added Rory Burns would feel relieved that he had someone else to rival his bizarre dismissal off the first ball of the series in Brisbane.
Nannes not happy with rain delay
It’s safe to say former Australian paceman Dirk Nannes was not happy with the decision to go off late on day one of the fifth Ashes Test in Hobart.
Nannes, who has been a breath of fresh air in ABC Grandstand commentary in the past few seasons, tweeted that he thought play being called off at Blundstone Arena was yet another example of “cricket shooting itself in the foot”.
“The game should not be off for this drizzle, if we can even call it that. The gutters are still dry. It could be the first rain delay when not a single drop of water goes down the gutters.”
Another example of cricket shooting itself in the foot. The game should not be off for this drizzle, if we can even call it that. The gutters are still dry. It could be the first rain delay when not a single drop of water goes down the gutters.
— Dirk Nannes (@dirk_nannes) January 14, 2022
Anderson denied Ashes farewell in Australia
England have omitted James Anderson from what would have been his farewell Test in Hobart, missing out on the chance to bowl on a greentop after the tourists won the toss and sent Australia in.
Triple M commentator Brad Haddin was critical of the move with the former Australian keeper suggesting the pressure is on the pace quartet of Stuart Broad, Mark Wood and recalled duo Ollie Robinson and Chris Woakes to step up in the absence of England’s most prolific wicket-taker in history.
Anderson has taken 640 wickets in 169 Tests, including eight at a cost of just 23.27 per victim in the three matches he’s been selected this series to have the best average of any English bowler in the Ashes.
“Jimmy Anderson is not playing on this wicket and there’s some pressure on these bowlers to get 20 wickets from England,” Haddin said.
“If Joe Root wins the toss and bowls and they have a bad day with no Anderson in this team on that wicket, good luck.”
English legend Sir Ian Botham said he had heard Anderson had a niggling injury but was unsure as the team had not announced anything officially.
“I can only assume it’s medical not tactical,” he said during Seven commentary, “but then again you can only assume”.
Former English captain Michael Vaughan has called on the team to move into a new era by telling Anderson it’s time to hang up his boots.
Anderson responded in his London Telegraph newspaper column by saying: “I read that my future is the ‘elephant in the room’ according to Michael Vaughan’s Telegraph column this week. It is not the elephant in the room because the captain and coach know exactly what my thoughts are on it. They have told me their thoughts too. They want me around and to carry on. As long as that is the case, it is not an elephant in any room. We are talking openly about it and I wrote last week that everyone’s future is in doubt. It always happens when you get beaten heavily in an Ashes series.
“For me, if I have the chance to play I will do my best and keep having conversations. I will keep talking to whoever about my future. I feel I can still offer something to this team and hopefully I will get the chance to do so.”
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.