āSuperstarā Cameron Green best young player Iāve seen since Ricky Ponting, claims Greg Chappell
Green is regarded as the best youngster in Australia
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Former Australian skipper Greg Chappell has heaped praise on young Western Australian all-rounder Cameron Green and has termed the youngster the best talent he has seen emerge out of Australia since Ricky Ponting. Chappell advised Australia to pick Green before Western Australia ābreakā him.
More and more people are jumping into the Cameron Green bandwagon with every passing day and, as things stand, young Cameron getting his Baggy Green in the next few months seems like an inevitability. A versatile all-rounder who can win matches with both bat and ball, Green has been racking up quite the numbers with his willow.Ā
Coming on the back of a 699-run campaign in the 2019/20 Sheffield, Green, in just his second game this season, struck a marvellous 197. The ton took his tally of FC centuries to four and be it from teammates, opponents, former or present cricketers, the 21-year-old has received a bucketload of praise.
The general notion seems to be that the Western Australian is a generational talent, but in an interview with āThe Australianā, former Australian skipper Greg Chappell went one step further with his praise for Green. Chappell termed Green the ābest youngster heās seen since Ricky Pontingā and pleaded with the national selectors to pick the 21-year-old for the country before he ābreaks his back and canāt playā.
āThis is a serious player, this is a special player. He is the best young player Iāve seen since Ricky Ponting. He is our next superstar,ā Chappell told The Australian.
āIāve been telling anyone who will listen for a couple of years now. I saw him hit a couple of shots when he was 17 one day and it was obvious he was a batsman.
āYou just have to pick him now before he breaks his back and he canāt play. My greatest fear about him is that everyone gets excited about his bowling and the kid can bowl, he is a rare talent there as well. But you know that if he bowls 20 to 30 overs a game for Western Australia he will break.ā
The reference to Green breaking his back stems from the youngster, who can clock up to 140 kph and boasts a SR of 41.3 in red-ball cricket, having temporarily stopped bowling due to having suffered a stress fracture. His fitness aside, there are also fears that Green is too raw and undeveloped to be fast-tracked to the national side. But Chappell claimed that legends of the country, including the likes of himself, Ponting, Bradman and Warner, were all handed caps before they were ready, and batted for the inclusion of the 21-year-old.
āBradman, Harvey, myself, the Waughs, Ponting and Warner, they all played before they were ready,ā Chappell said.
āWhen I hear people say he isnāt ready now I ask them if they were ready when they played and nobody was. You are not ready until you play 10, 15, 20 Tests matches and then you work it out if you are good enough.ā
Having not bowled a single ball in over a year, Green is expected to start bowling sparsely across the upcoming Shield matches. It remains to be seen if the youngster will be named as a part of the Australian squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy versus India.Ā
