Stress fracture set to restrict Green from bowling

Young Western Australia allrounder Cameron Green has suffered a massive blow with news that a stress fracture in his back means he will be unable to bowl in the foreseeable future.

Green recently had scans on his lower back and they revealed a stress fracture that will prohibit the 20-year-old from bowling until the effected area has healed.

"Scans this week on Cameron’s lower back have revealed the early stages of a lumbar stress fracture," Sports Science Sports Medicine Manager at WACA Nick Jones said.

"This will require an extended period of rest from bowling to ensure the fracture heals adequately. 

"No timeframe has been set for Cameron to return to bowling, however we are not expecting him to be bowling during the BBL. He will continue to be available for selection as a batter."

Green has been a revelation for Western Australia during the early portion of the Marsh Sheffield Shield with the talented youngster having already compiled an impressive 394 runs at an average north of 65 to be the fifth leading run scorer in the competition.

Those recent performances caught the eye of Ricky Ponting, with the former Australia captain recently indicating "the timing could be right" for Green to be promoted to the Test squad to face New Zealand.

Green hasn't bowled at Shield level since Western Australia drew with Queensland at the Gabba last month, but Ponting likes what he sees in the youngster.

"Cameron Green is probably the in-form batsman in the country," Ponting recently told cricket.com.au.

"It'd be a pretty left-field decision to make because he's been batting so low for WA. But he's not doing much wrong, he's an exciting talent, and maybe to just include him and have him around the squad and give him a taste of what it's like might not be a bad thing.

"He's very young and very raw, but what he's doing in Shield cricket suggests there's a whole lot of talent there with both bat and ball.

"He's someone we've got to keep an eye on for the next couple of years, and if we can fast-track him and get him into the set-up sooner rather than later, it wouldn't be a bad thing."

Green will play as a specialist batsman for Western Australia when they take on Victoria in the Sheffield Shield clash at the MCG that starts on Saturday.

Such is the wealth of batting riches in Western Australia at the moment, coach Adam Voges has the luxury of leaving international duo D'Arcy Short and Ashton Turner in Perth for the four-day contest.

Veteran batsman Shaun Marsh is the leading run scorer in the Shield competition this season, while Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar, Josh Inglis and Green have all compiled plenty of runs.

Voges said it was a tough decision to leave Short and Turner out of the squad, but believes the pair will be back playing Shield cricket for their state before the end of the season.

"Ashton was a hard decision, ultimately his recent performances haven’t been his best and it means he misses this trip," Voges said.

"We’ve picked an extra bowler in this squad so D’Arcy has missed out as well, it’s a strong group which leads to some tough selection decisions."

Victoria squad: Peter Handscomb (C), Travis Dean, Andrew Fekete, Aaron Finch, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Nic Maddinson, Will Pucovski, Matthew Short, Peter Siddle, Will Sutherland, Chris Tremain

Western Australia squad: Shaun Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jake Carder, Hilton Cartwright, Cameron Green, Liam Guthrie, Josh Inglis, Matt Kelly, Simon Mackin, David Moody, Joel Paris, Marcus Stoinis.