WA gun puts pressure on Head, Wade in Test team Green into contention
THE thundering footsteps of Cameron Green are suddenly echoing in the ears of Travis Head and Matthew Wade, as Australia lays the platform to unleash a once-in-a-generation Test star.
Green, who Greg Chappell has dubbed Australia’s best talent since Ricky Ponting, has been rushed into Australia’s white-ball squad to face India and the prodigiously talented allrounder is now in prime contention for a Test debut this summer.
Australia’s world No.1 Test team is the most settled it’s been in years, but until now proper competition for spots has been lacking and Head and Wade now find themselves under pressure to lock down their middle-order spots with Green expedited on to the scene.
National selector Trevor Hohns yesterday made a point of backing in Australia’s middle-order incumbents, declaring that Green’s emergence didn’t necessarily equate to immediate heat being put on their spots.
But the mercury is rising, particularly after Hohns declared Green could pay his way in the top six on the strength of his batting prowess alone, and wouldn’t even need to be fit to bowl at full capacity.
“Any comments around (Green being in Test contention) are not meant to put pressure on anybody at all,” Hohns said.
“Our Test match side has performed very, very well. It’s pretty stable. I don’t envisage too much pressure being exerted on any of the incumbents immediately.”
It’s a reality check for the well-performed Head and Wade, particularly when the COVID-19 pandemic has robbed Australia of any Test cricket since January.
Head scored a hundred last Boxing Day to ease the pressure on himself and already has a ton for South Australia to start the Sheffield Shield.
Wade has stood up since being recalled to the Test team as a specialist batsman against England last year, scoring two important Ashes hundreds, and is due to play his first match for Tasmania today.
Green is fresh from a 197 for Western Australia already this summer.