Grave doubts for Green: Selection intrigue for Australia with all-rounder unlikely for first Test

Durban: Cameron Green is likely to be out of the first Test against South Africa in Durban due to the abdominal strain he picked up in the final, dead-rubber ODI last week.

While selectors are yet to formally rule a line through Green for the first Test, his lack of physical activity in Potchefstroom around Australia’s warm-up game on Sunday strongly suggests he will need to set his sights on the second or third games of the series.

Cameron Green is in doubt for the first Test against South Africa.Getty ImagesHe was restricted to physical conditioning work and did not bat, bowl or field.

Green’s absence from at least the first Test would put Cooper Connolly squarely in the frame to play in the middle order for the tourists, while reinforcements Nic Maddinson and Sam Harper will also move closer to selection, having been called up as cover for Josh Inglis.

Beau Webster, who contributed with bat and ball in the warm-up game, has played a role as cover for Green in the past.

The selectors also have the option of calling up all-rounder Liam Scott, who has performed strongly on the Australia A tour of India.

Marnus Labuschagne had been struggling for runs until the warm-up match.Getty ImagesAfter making an unsuccessful attempt to return to the bowling crease that day, having injured himself in playing a hook shot, Green barely trained at all in Potchefstroom, where the Australians played a two-day warm-up game.

The injury, which has been described as “awkward” by a member of the tour party, is particularly vexing because it affects both Green’s bowling and batting strings, while also impeding him in the field.

Australia had high hopes for Green entering this tour but he has been battling for fitness from the start, having carried a sore shoulder into the trip.

He had also been suffering from that ailment when he bowled without much impact against Bangladesh in August, though his century in a losing cause in the first Test in Darwin was something of a breakthrough as his first hundred on home turf.

The balance of Australia’s side will also be partly determined by the sort of pitch unveiled at Kingsmead this week. If it is a slow, turning pitch as expected, there are a wide range of configurations in play.

These may include the left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann alongside Nathan Lyon and Connolly. Maddinson, meanwhile, was chosen in part because he is considered a useful player of spin - a key component of the injured Inglis’ game.

Meanwhile, Marnus Labuschagne has responded to all the debate over whether he merits a place in Australia’s Test future by scoring his first century in 11 months.

After a difficult year, the under-pressure 32-year-old chose the most timely moment to score his first century in any form of cricket for just under a year in Potchefstroom, just five days before Australia play their first Test in South Africa since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.

Former skipper Ricky Ponting has led the chorus that Labuschagne’s place in the Australian side has become “untenable” after three years and 43 Test innings without a ton, capped by three failures in the recent Bangladesh series.

But the South African-born batter looks sure to fill the No.3 spot once more in the first Test after his swift century against a modest Cricket South Africa Invitation XI attack on Sunday.

Labuschagne was largely untroubled as he raced to a 76-ball ton, going on to 111 from 89, decorated with 19 fours, before retiring to let his colleagues also get in some batting practice on the final day of the two-day warm-up match.

They enjoyed the opportunity too, with Steve Smith also retiring after making 61 while Alex Carey, fresh from his fine form in the third ODI, hit another half-century (57) as Pat Cummins’ Australian side rattled up 6-368 in the drawn procession.

Smith, who was captain when he received a 12-month ban for his role in altering the condition of the ball with sandpaper at Cape Town on the infamous tour eight years ago, is back with a group of other survivors from that tour – Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Matt Renshaw, all of whom could play on Friday.

Renshaw declared he was good to go after a knock to his right wrist in the final ODI, but he missed out by being dismissed for 32 off his 50 balls, as did fellow opener Travis Head (21 off 22 balls), while Beau Webster brushed off a few cobwebs with his 42 before he retired.

All eyes, though, were on Labuschagne, who even had a bit of local support as he took the crease at Senwes Park, a venue less than 50 kilometres from where he was born in Klerksdorp and the emotional scene of his first ODI hundred for Australia back in 2020.

“Really nice. Looks like he’s got a lot of energy at the crease, it’s the Marn that I know that’s batting well,” enthused Renshaw, who gave himself a clean bill of health for Durban.

“Really nice to see him getting the runs and doing what he wants to do. Really nice positivity, his feet were moving well and he was just reacting.”

The Smith-Labuschagne partnership generated a sense of safety out in the middle for the Australians. “Definitely,” said Renshaw. “As in the past, it’s very successful if they’re both scoring out there.”

Australia will see it all as a useful outing after they gave 11 bowlers a run on the Saturday when the Invitation XI declared on 7-318 after a century from former Proteas’ captain Neil Brand.

South Africa paceman Anrich Nortje is in line for a remarkable return to first-class cricket after an absence of 3½ years to help the injury-hit Proteas’ attack.

With fitness doubts over key strike bowler Kagiso Rabada and three others, Nortje could return to Tests for the first time since March 2023 after a series of back and hip problems that left him concentrating on white-ball formats to reduce the strain on his body.

“I’ll be very excited if I can put my Test cap on again. Growing up, ⁠it’s the format you want to play,” he said on Sunday, the day before he’s expected to be named in South Africa’s Test squad of 15.

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