Steve Smith has launched an impassioned defence of Cameron Green but can’t guarantee the out-of-form allrounder’s place in the XI for the Ashes series finale.
Australia’s stand-in captain insists all options are on the selection table for the fifth Test, including using both allrounders Green and Beau Webster at the SCG and leaving out spin for the third time in four starts.
“We’ll figure out [the team] once we see the surface and see which way we want to go about it,” Smith said on Saturday morning.
With the urn already retained, World Test Championship points and the chance to send retiring Usman Khawaja out a winner appear the hosts’ biggest motivations.
But pressure is mounting on the 26-year-old Green, the youngest member of the team.
A solid contributor with the ball this Ashes series, Green has shifted around the batting order with an average of 18.7 runs and one score above 24 from six innings.
Even that high score – 45 under lights in Brisbane – was overshadowed by an audacious premeditated shot that left his stumps exposed and skittled by Brydon Carse.
Steve Smith delays confirming the Australia XI for the fifth Ashes Test at the SCG. Photograph: Robbie Stephenson/PA
Smith, who endured a lean start to the previous home summer, felt for Green.
“We’ve played on some hard surfaces for batting,” the veteran right-hander said. “We’ve seen two two-day games. It’s not easy, but he’s got himself in on a few occasions and probably not gone on with it.
“That’s probably the disappointing part about it, starting your innings is actually the hardest thing, he’s doing that pretty well and just finding a way to get out. He’s batted in different spots, which also can’t be easy as well when you’re trying to nail down one sort of role.”
After recovering from a long-term back injury, Green replaced Marnus Labuschagne at No 3 on the winter Test tour of West Indies and was Australia’s third-top run-scorer.
“Not too long ago he contributed some really valuable runs in the series in the West Indies on some tricky surfaces,” Smith said. “Greeny hasn’t got the runs he’s wanted so far but I think he’s actually looked quite good at times too.
“We know he’s a bright player, every time he goes back to Shield cricket he smashes it. Regardless of what happens right now, we think he’s got a really bright future.”
Able to bowl either spin or pace, Webster has not been afforded a chance this series despite an excellent start to his Test career that continued over the winter.
Both Webster and Green batted in the nets at training on Saturday.
With Webster breathing down his fellow allrounder’s neck, Smith was asked point blank whether Green was locked in to play in Australia’s last Test until August.
“No one’s locked in yet,” he said. “As I said before, we haven’t picked a team. There’s 13 or 14 guys on the table, we want to see the wicket and see how we match up against that.”
Todd Murphy’s hopes of a first home Test match are also up in the air after being overlooked for the seaming MCG deck.
Murphy last played on the Test tour of Sri Lanka in early 2025 and was brought into the Ashes squad as cover for injured veteran Nathan Lyon.
But he may end up surplus to requirements, with Smith conceding the SCG no longer amounted to the spinner’s paradise of years gone by.
Lyon’s bowling average of 39.2 at the SCG is his worst at any ground where a Test has been played this series.
“I love the old-school SCG: flat for two days, footmarks starting to come in, cracks opening, reverse swing, spin late in the game, tricky to bat, slow, low wicket, fielders in front of the wicket,” Smith said.
“But I don’t think it’s been that as long as I’ve been playing, unfortunately. It’s probably one of Nathan Lyon’s worst grounds in Australia, that’s why all things are being talked about.”
