Not playing regularly has helped me improve my game: Cameron Green

On the back of his sizzling 96 in the Sheffield Shield against Queensland, Cameron Green has revealed that time away from the first XI has proven to be a blessing in disguise as it has not only given him the opportunity to improve his game, but also re-fuelled his hunger to ‘be out there’ and play regularly.

Not too long ago, Green was a starter in both ODIs and Tests but after losing his place to Mitchell Marsh towards the end of The Ashes in England, he spent the World Cup predominantly warming the bench, with both Marcus Stoinis and Marnus Labuschagne playing ahead of him. 

The 24-year-old, who is now back in Australia playing Shield Cricket ahead of the Pakistan Tests, revealed that he felt ‘a bit flat’ and exhausted towards the end of The Ashes but is now energized and hungrier than ever, and is keen to make an impact.

"Potentially around the Ashes I was feeling a bit flat, I was playing a lot, but the last month or so I haven't played as much, so I've got a lot of energy and I couldn't wait to get here to play a Shield game," Green said on the back of his 96 against Queensland.

"It's been in the back of my mind for a month now … when you're not playing, your mind switches to what's next.

"There's always a silver lining when you don't get picked, and it was a good chance to improve my game, which I haven't had a chance to do in a long time through playing a lot. It was nice to get the rewards today."

Green has been batting at No.6 for Australia but he bats up the order for his state side, Western Australia, usually in the Top 4. On Thursday, the 96 he struck against a strong Queensland attack came while batting at No.4.

The 24-year-old asserted that it’s no secret that he prefers to bat higher up the order, but admitted that it currently is unrealistic for him to expect to bat higher up the order for Australia, with multiple batters racking up the runs.

“I think I can play my natural game (up the order),” Green said.

"It's always nice batting up the order and I've done it through my junior career and I've done it for WA," he added. 

"I've always wanted to bat higher, but obviously you've got to put runs on the board and we've got quite a few guys in the Australian team making runs.

"But yeah, you always want to bat higher."

But given head coach Andrew McDonald’s tendency to play around with batting positions, Green did not rule out the possibility of him potentially moving up the order in Tests, just like how he got promoted in T20s.

"'Ron' (McDonald) is awesome, he loves challenging you with different things," the all-rounder said. 

"I got thrown to opening in India for the T20s, I'd never done that before, and it's a really fluid Australian team – I feel like a lot of guys can bat anywhere."

It was a successful return to red-ball cricket for Green, who, apart from scoring 96 with the bat, also registered match figures of 19-9-23-0 against a Queensland team that featured Matt Renshaw, Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja among others. 

The 24-year-old, next week, is slated to play the four-day tour match against Pakistan, representing Prime Minister’s XI.