Cameron Green eschews BBL for Sheffield Shield focus with Mitch Marsh ahead in race for Test all-rounder spot

Cameron Green earned millions as a T20 star in the IPL earlier this year, but the exciting all-rounder no doubt won over cricket traditionalists by committing to Sheffield Shield cricket if he misses out on a Test spot.

Green announced his intentions to forego a Big Bash League season in order to focus on his long-form cricket as he works to regain his status as Australia’s top all-rounder in the men’s game.

Since bursting onto the first-class scene as a teenager with Western Australia in 2016/17, Green has been earmarked as the leader of the next generation, making his international debut as a 21-year-old in 2020 and playing 24 Tests, 23 ODIs and eight T20s for his country since then.

The hard-hitting 24-year-old scored his maiden Test century in India in March and earned a lucrative contract for the country’s Twenty20 IPL season, but has been criticised for being too timid at the crease and not using his power, size and technique to his advantage.

That is not a problem his replacement, Mitch Marsh, has.

A lean run with the bat preceded an injury that ruled Green out of the third Test of this year’s Ashes series, with veteran Marsh returning and immediately clattering a run-a-ball century that saw him picked ahead of Green for the final game of the series.

Marsh reinforced his ability with the bat with two centuries and a 50 in the World Cup, during which he played all but one match when he went home for his grandfather’s funeral. (Green played three matches, with a top score of 47 against England).

With his spot in the Test team to face Pakistan and West Indies this summer no longer certain, Green has made clear his intentions to hone his red-ball skills.

“I’m obviously still learning as a cricketer. So I’m not too stressed about selection at the moment,” Green told AAP.

“There’s a lot of cricket, a lot of things can happen with injuries or form. At the same time, I can use it as a in a pretty positive way.

“I can spend more time in the nets, really trying to get that rhythm of red-ball cricket.

“If you’re not playing the Test match, you might be able to play another Shield game.

“There are obviously a few silver linings you can take out of it and try and improve your skills and just be better for it if you get the chance.”

Green and most of Australia’s elite male cricketers have played nothing but white-ball cricket — and a lot of it — in the back half of the year.

After the Ashes finished in England at the start of August, Australia’s men’s team travelled to South Africa for a limited-overs series.

From the first T20 on August 31 to the start of the end of the current tour of India on Sunday (next Monday morning AEDT), the men’s team will have played 29 internationals in 94 days on the road.

There will also be a round of three Sheffield Shield games from Tuesday to Friday, a four-day Prime Minister’s XI match starting the following Wednesday, and seven Big Bash games in the week leading up to the first Test against Pakistan in Perth on December 14.

Green admitted to feeling “cooked” after a cramped schedule and a long time away from home, so he is opting not to pull double duty with Western Australia and the Perth Scorchers.

Tuesday’s game against Queensland at the Gabba will be his first Shield outing in two years, with Test teammates Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne committing to Queensland, Australia and Brisbane Heat BBL games this summer.