Legendary Australian cricketer Mark Waugh believes young allrounder Cameron Green should replace Test skipper Pat Cummins in the XI after seeing the veteran quick struggle in the second consecutive match of the ICC T20 World Cup Super-12 stage in Perth.
Cummins went wicket-less in Australia’s 89-run loss to New Zealand in the Super 12 opener on October 22 and managed just one wicket for 36 runs in the game against Sri Lanka, which the hosts won by seven wickets to put their World Cup campaign back on track.
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Green has been drafted into the 15-member squad as a replacement for reserve wicketkeeper Josh Inglis, who suffered a freak injury on the golf course two days before the start of the Super 12 stage.
Waugh believes Green should replace Cummins and the tall allrounder be brought in as opener in place of the struggling Aaron Finch. The 35-year-old Australia skipper laboured to an unbeaten 31 off 42 balls against Sri Lanka before Marcus Stoinis’ blazing unbeaten half-century turned it into a one-sided contest.
Mark Waugh, a former selector, said, “It’s easy when you haven’t got anything on the line but I think the selectors have been very, very conservative for the last six months.
“I’d bring Cameron Green in, and I think I’d bring him in for Pat Cummins. I’d let Green open the batting. I know it’s a bit of a gamble — it leaves your bowling a little short — but I think (he) can bowl four overs pretty much as good as any of the other bowlers at the moment,” Waugh told RSN radio.
The 23-year-old Green has made just 20 T20 appearances in his career but has shown his brilliance a number of times since making his debut in April 2022. In seven T20Is, he has scored 136 runs (two half-centuries against India) at a strike rate of 174.35 and taken five wickets.
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On Finch’s future in the side, Waugh said, “They’re probably not going to drop Aaron Finch at this stage in the game, are they? But I think Green should open the batting and just go with the extra batsman. Marcus Stoinis is bowling well enough to bowl four overs. (Finch’s batting) puts a lot of pressure on the other batsmen.”
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