DANE ELDRIDGE: Cameron Green named in Ashes squad but doubts remain over all-rounder role

Unearthing a quality all-rounder can boost Australia’s national confidence like an RBA rate cut and Cameron Green has been no different.

From the moment whispers emerged from the west about the lanky wunderkind, this nation knew it had a commodity on its hands as bankable as Rio Tinto stock.

A unicorn that can bat sumptuously, bowl handily and snaffle hangers in the gully, it wasn’t just Green’s six-foot-six height that had us believing he could touch the sky.

And since completing his summary rise to national honours, he’s already gone a long way to answering our prayers for a man who bats like Jacques Kallis, bowls like Richard Hadlee and charms like Imran Khan.

With a 34.02 average with the bat and 35.31 with the ball across 32 Tests, nobody was shocked today when the kid from Perth was named in Australia’s 15-man squad for the series opener on November 21.

However, the question must be asked:

If you remove the conditioner from a bottle of Head and Shoulders, is it still a two-in-one or just shampoo?

For all the pH balance he’s provided Australia’s lineup and the knots he’s untangled as a world-class all-rounder, Green has only recently returned from a year-long layoff due to a back injury.

Of course, there is nobody who doesn’t want the tall right-hander lining up for Australia in the series opener at Perth, except of course England and Beau Webster’s parents.

And sure, while 12 months absent with a crook spine is a standard gap year for any Aussie quick, it’s meant he’s bowled only four measly overs in a year - all in the opening round’s Sheffield Shield game for WA at the beginning of October, and all under orders from modern cricket’s Captain Grumpy, the sports scientist.

But despite being 50 per cent reduced, chairman of selectors George Bailey confirmed at the announcement that Green could still be picked as a batter only.

While he’s tipped to play as an allrounder against Queensland next week, Bailey also revealed Green has been set the goal of delivering 15 to 20 overs in the match, all but confirming he’s still so firmly under the control of the medicos that he’ll be getting through the crease wearing electrodes.

With so much doubt surrounding the baby-faced talent, Australia needs to make the hard decision to call a spade a spade and a unicorn a standard bred.

If the 26-year-old isn’t bowling with all gas and no brakes, in the process pressure testing his spine under the comparable duress of five-day cricket, his reserved position in to the side under all-rounder privileges is moot.

And for all his attributes otherwise, he cannot be selected as a batter alone just because his technique is divinely pure and he can reach down items from the top of Spidercam.

Of course, there is nobody who doesn’t want the tall right-hander lining up for Australia in the series opener at Perth, except of course England and Beau Webster’s parents.

But with Webster also named in the squad - a perfect Green clone who can also bat steadily, take the new ball in a pinch and skyscrape in the cordon - picking Green as a batter only is like ignoring a super comfy recliner lounge to sit on a milk crate.

Admittedly, Webster’s not exactly in rude health himself after an ankle injury saw him miss the opening rounds of the domestic competition before being restricted to bowling several overs of off-spin.

But figures of 1-26 from 12 overs last week in Victoria’s first innings and 0-28 from 11 overs in their second dig - plus a previous 12 months banking reps while his counterpart was recovering - is a far sight better than Green’s 24 balls at the speed of a school zone.

And while Bailey also confirmed there was room in the Aussie XI for both, the recent failures of experimenting at the top of the order - plus its brittle resolve overall - means Australia needs more specialist openers right now, not more unicorns.

But as the countdown continues to the series opener, Australia’s complex relationship with its all-rounders ensures overlooking a Rosetta Stone like Green won’t be the cut-and-dry decision it needs to be.

While this nation’s want for the perfect two-pronged talent has endured since Keith Miller last applied Brylcreem for the national cause, Australia’s cravings hit fever pitch in 2005 after Andrew Flintoff gave us a multi discipline bath in England’s famous series win.

Flintoff’s one-man wrecking job sparked a manhunt for a centaur who could take the new ball in one innings and dispatch it to row Z in the other, an all-consuming search that manifested in the bizarre love-hate relationship with Shane Watson.

A rare talent that selectors persisted with through injury to finish his career as a definite net gain, Watson was still criticised by sections of the country for not emulating Flintoff by single-handedly winning an Ashes and meeting the Queen after 13 pints.

While Australia has matured since, It already feels like selectors want to avoid a repeat by ensuring Green feels nurtured at all costs- both physically and emotionally.

But when it’s England and there’s a like-for-like replacement, there’s no room for sentiment, history or basic shampoo.

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