Melbourne, Oct 14
Australia suffered a blow ahead of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy as the star allrounder Cameron Green opted to have an operation on a stress fracture in his lower back, which will sideline him for up to six months.
Green hurt his back during Australia's white-ball tour of the UK last month and subsequent scans found a stress fracture in the affected area. Cricket Australia released a statement on Monday, saying "Cam has a unique defect in an adjacent area to the fracture that is believed to be contributing to the injury. After thorough consultation, it was determined Cameron would benefit from the surgery to stabilise the defect and reduce the risk of future recurrence." However, no further details on the nature of the "unique defect" were provided. The 25-year-old will undergo an operation that will be performed by Christchurch surgeons Grahame Inglis and Rowan Schouten, which involves screws and titanium wire to bind vertebrae together. As a result, Green has been ruled out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series and an expected recovery time of six months also puts him out of February's Test tour of Sri Lanka and the ICC Champions Trophy tournament, as well as casting doubt on his availability for the next Indian Premier League season. Last year, at The Oval, he was instrumental in leading Australia to their first World Test Championship final. With veteran batsman Steve Smith promoted to opening position, the all-rounder was expected to bat in the critical No. 4 spot. The loss of Green could see Smith return to his preferred position at second drop, while Australia may need to find another bowling option for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in the absence of their young all-rounder.