Sydney – Australia all-rounder Cameron Green will start the first Test against the West Indies, the selectors said on Wednesday, but it remains to be seen who will replace David Warner as opener.
A fixture at the top of the order for 12 years, Warner was dropped from the five-dayer at the weekend after the final Test against Pakistan in Sydney.
Acclaimed openers Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris and Matt Renshaw were long considered front-runners to fill the role until Steve Smith said last week he wanted to do the job.
Renshaw was handed the Test lifeline as the only change to the 13-man squad for the two-Test series starting on 17 January in Adelaide, leaving Bancroft and Harris out in the cold.
But head selector George Bailey said Green, who was recently forced out of a resurgent Mitchell Marsh side, would definitely play.
That would see him either open the innings or, more likely, start at four, where he usually plays for Western Australia. This scenario would allow Smith to open, with local media widely reporting that Renshaw will be the back-up batsman.
Neither Green nor Smith had previously started in Test cricket. “Cameron Green will come into the playing eleven for the Test in Adelaide in a team that will also include Scott Boland and Matthew Renshaw,” Bailey said.
“We have selected a team that we believe contains the best six batsmen in the country. Renshaw’s inclusion is a major blow for Bancroft, who has been the top scorer in the Sheffield Shield for the past two seasons. At 27, Renshaw is four years younger.
Another unknown is whether pacers Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, who have played all three Tests against Pakistan, can back up for the next two. If the selectors decide to keep one of them out, Boland will step in.
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The selectors also named a 13-man squad for the one-day series against the West Indies that follows the Tests, with Cummins rested and Smith taking over as captain. Marsh, Starc and Hazlewood will also play three games
“That squad strikes a balance between players who continue to establish themselves in international cricket and play alongside some of our most experienced players with an eye to the future in the format,” Bailey said of the one-day squad.
Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchel Marsh, Matt Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc
Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (captain), Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, Matt Short, Adam Zampa
