'Steve Waugh's 1989 Ashes': Green could be set for 'Tugga'-like breakthrough, Gilchrist says
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Adam Gilchrist has declared this Ashes series could be for Cameron Green what the 1989 tour of England was for a 24-year-old Steve Waugh.
There's no denying Green's enormous potential — in 2020, Greg Chappell hailed the West Australian as "the best batting talent I've seen since Ricky Ponting" — but the reality that after 32 Tests he's averaging 34.02, has scored 1565 runs and has made one century suggests he's yet to tap that potential.
Green's statistics compare similarly to those of Waugh's when he arrived in England for the 1989 Ashes series — he had only 1099 runs on the board at 30.52, and was century-less, from 26 Tests.
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But the older of the Waugh twins, batting at No.6 in a rebuilding team skippered by Allan Border, proceeded to plunder 506 runs at 126.50, including two centuries and a score in the 90s.
He had churned out 393 runs across three innings in the 1989 Ashes before being dismissed, chalking up unbeaten scores of 177, 152 and 21.
Precocious all-rounder Cameron Green, pictured in his West Australian kit in October. Getty
In 2004, just shy of 20 years after being thrust into the Test arena as a 20-year-old, he called time on his Test career with 10,927 runs at 51.06, and 32 centuries, from 168 matches.
For the best part of two decades he was both a rock and a prolific run-scorer in the Australian middle order.
Uncertainty remains over where Green will bat in Perth in the first Test, beginning on November 21. Where he slots in could depend on whether he's able to bowl in the series-opener as he continues his comeback from back surgery.
Regardless, there's a sense the 26-year-old could be set for a statement series with the bat.
"This series ... for Cam Green is Steve Waugh's 1989 Ashes," Gilchrist said on the Fox Cricket broadcast of Saturday night's T20 between Australia and India.
"If he can nail that breakthrough series where he contributes Test match after Test match after — I mean, 'Tugga' ... wasn't dismissed until about the third Test, I reckon [in the 1989 series].
"This is his opportunity and this is his time, both with bat, primarily, but with ball as well. Hopefully, if that back is right [for Green to be able to bowl], this is where he can ... make the statement: 'I am the future of this Australian Test cricket team, build the team around me'."
Steve Waugh during his knock of 177 not out in the first Ashes Test of the 1989 series. Getty
If Green is able to bowl in Perth, selectors may pick the precocious all-rounder at No.6 at Beau Webster's expense, and go with Marnus Labuschagne at No.3 and Jake Weatherald as Usman Khawaja's opening partner.
If Green can't bowl, on the contrary, selectors may go with Webster at No.6, Green at No.3 and Labuschagne as an opener, and leave the uncapped Weatherald out.
Green is Australia's incumbent No.3, having batted at first drop against the West Indies in the Caribbean and against South Africa at Lord's in the World Test Championship final.
But against New Zealand and the West Indies in Australia last summer, he batted at four.
Prior to that, he was at six or seven.
"I'd like to see him nail down ... a spot in that order," Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket, chatting with Gilchrist.
"I don't think it's helping him [the chopping and changing].
"I think four is the perfect number for him. I think his technique at three — to me he's a bit of a nervous starter and he sort of feels for the ball a little bit. He's a bit almost robotic because he's so tall.
"If he is going to bowl a lot, it is tough [at No.3].
"But it doesn't help you going up and down the order. I think they've got to sort of give him a spot and that's his — well, no one gets given a spot, but I think ideally No.4 would be his best spot."
Australia's 15-man squad for first Ashes Test
Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
