Cameron Green’s career takes off: Breaking barriers and preparing for international debut

Cameron Green is a young prodigy who rose through the ranks through grade cricket and burst onto the domestic scene with a 5-for on debut at the age of just 17. A precocious talent, the young fast bowler became the youngest bowler to take a five-wicket haul in the history of Shield cricket. Standing at 6’6 feet tall, Green bowls a ‘heavy’ ball and isn’t afraid of doing the grunt work. Add to that his exceptional batting talent and the ability to float up and down the order and it’s quickly evident why he’s rated so highly. That’s not even mentioning his fielding abilities - often snaffling half-chances at gully and backward point by using his extensive reach.

Green's junior days were marred with injury and he had an injury scare during his 2nd Sheffield game as well, when he managed to dislocate his knee during warm-ups. However, this was immediately taken care of by the physio at the ground and he was cleared to continue playing.

His lower-order pinch-hitting talent came to the fore when he scored a 45 in his second first-class game, biffing three monstrous sixes off Baggy Green-holder James Pattinson, and extending his team's lead from 104 to 168 while he was at the crease. In his second outing with the ball in that match, he ended with figures of 3/20, including the timely wickets of opposition skipper Cameron White and Dan Christian to earn his side an innings win for which he earned praise from his captain Adam Voges.

He made his List A debut in the tour match against Pakistan for the Cricket Australia XI and bagged 3 wickets, including that of veteran batsman Shoaib Malik, and bothered the Pakistan players with his accurate and rapid seam bowling. The prodigious teenager was handed a rookie contract by the Perth Scorchers ahead of the 2017/18 season.

Impressive performances in the domestic circuit earned him his maiden Australia call-up for the tour to India in late 2020. He made both his ODI and Test debut in December 2020. His T20I debut came in the following year and he was named in Australia’s squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup as a replacement for an injured Josh Inglis. His maiden Test 5-fer came in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in 2022.

Ahead of the 2023 IPL, Cameron Green was swept up by the Mumbai Indians for a whopping sum of INR 17.5 crore and this made him the second most expensive overseas player in the history of the IPL. That same season, Green scored his maiden IPL century, a 100* against the Sunrisers Hyderabad while opening the batting. Green’s maiden Test century came just a few months later in a Test against India at Ahmedabad where he scored 114. He was also a part of the Australian team that won the World Test Championship.

Green was named in Australia’s squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.