Cameron Green to miss the Boder Gavaskar Trophy; Opens Door For Bancroft

Cameron Green will not be available for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy due to lower back pain. On October 14, Cricket Australia confirmed his unavailability for at least six months, as he has opted to undergo surgery. 

Not only the Border Gavaskar Trophy, Green will miss the Test tour of Sri Lanka in February and the ICC Champions Trophy as well. His participation in the Indian Premier League is under speculation too.

Injury details

Previously, Green suffered from four stress fractures in his lower back. The injury was recurring through his junior days to 2019, a year before his Test debut.

The pain showed up again during the UK tour in September. He did few scans, which revealed that he has some "unique defect" in his adjacent area, believing its to be main cause of injury.

After weeks of discussions, the Cricket Australia medical team has advised him to undergo the surgery. The procedure involves fusing screws and a titanium cable into his lower back to stabilize the stress fracture and prevent future issues.

Recovery Rate

Ideally, it takes around nine months to recover fully from the surgery. But Cricket Australia is speculating that Green may require just six months to be fully fit for cricket.

The success rate of the surgery seems positive as well. New Zealand-based surgeons Grahame Inglis and Rowan Schouten have been performing this surgery for the last two decades. Amongst 26 patients who underwent this operation, 24 patients have been recovered fully.

The success rate undoubtedly is a hopeful thing for Green's return to the national side.

In October 2010, Australian pacer Jason Behrendorff had surgery. But he stayed outside the first-class cricket circuit since then. However, there was no issue of back pain to him.

In 2019, Ben Dwarshuis had surgery, but he showed up after 10 months. James Pattinson took 12 months to recover fully before coming back to first-class cricket.

Injury opens door for Bancroft

Former Aussie captain Mark Taylor believes that Green's injury has provided Australia the golden opportunity to test the other Cameron in the team.

Ahead the Border Gavaskar Trophy, Taylor suggests, rather believes Cameron Bancroft to make a comeback in the team.

Bancroft is having a peak in the Sheffield Shield’s last few seasons. With Green leaving the number 6 spot vacant, there's an opportunity for the management to do a shuffle in the OR, letting Bancroft open with Usman Khwaja. 

Read Also: Who is next after Warner? Cricket Australia finds it difficult to choose their test opener 

Also, since Khawaja will be turning 38 this year, there is a high necessity for some permutation and combination in the team, testing the new generation to fill up the spot and let Australia have a steady opening pair.