'I've got him': Green's untold first battle with Stokes

While much of the Ashes hype has understandably centred upon the inclusion of England superstar Ben Stokes, Australia's own budding allrounder, Cameron Green, will walk onto the Gabba tomorrow knowing he has already gotten one over his counterpart.

Well, almost.

The stats and archives will show that Stokes and Green have never squared off – but that isn't strictly true.

Eight summers ago, when Stokes was playing his maiden Ashes series, Green was a teen tearaway in Perth and as fate would have it, his path crossed with the Englishman's.

"The 2013(-14) Ashes was when I fell in love with the game," Green told George Bailey on cricket.com.au's Stumped series.

"I got to the WACA (Test) – our local club wanted a few guys to come down and help out the England side that were training there.

"I was a net bowler. I was just a 14-year-old who probably had too much energy and just wanted to bowl quick, so they got me down there."

Image Id: D5A7F4E2B8714085AF3578181867CD8B Image Caption: England opener Alastair Cook posing for a photo with a young Cameron Green in 2013 // supplied

Playing in just his second Test, Stokes made a second-innings 120, and though Australia won by 150 runs to regain the urn, the then 22-year-old allrounder had signalled he was already a force to be reckoned with in Test cricket.

But there was one young Aussie who thought he well and truly had Stokes' measure.

"I remember it pretty clearly. Ben Stokes, in his debut series, he played beautifully that game, and I got to bowl to him in the nets," grinned Green, who had his photo taken with a host of England players that day.

"He was smacking around all the A-Graders but he was blocking me. And as a (14)-year-old I was like, 'Gee, I must be doing something right – I reckon I've got him here'.

"But actually in hindsight, I reckon he saw the (14)-year-old and was like, 'I probably should block him'. So it was a pretty funny story."

Image Id: 5ECADD5D92E649D4B640C0833B298D70 Image Caption: Green with Graeme Swann at the WACA in 2013 // supplied

Stokes has of course gone onto become one of the game's premier allrounders, and two years ago the left-hander ensured his name was etched into Ashes history with a remarkable match-winning hundred in the third Test at Headingley.

Green, meanwhile, is just four matches into his own Test career, but with a first-class average of 52.76 and the height and pace to be a difficult proposition with the ball, it seems only a matter of time before he makes his mark.

And at 22, he is the same age Stokes was when he entered his first Ashes all those years ago.

"You look at how well Greeny's played over a period of time," Travis Head offered yesterday, "and I think he's just waiting to burst onto the scene and make huge runs."

His skipper, Pat Cummins, is also excited by the prospect of the young quick making a greater impact with the ball after overcoming stress fractures and remodelling his action.

"This season he's been able to bowl a bit more in games," Cummins said. "He's had a longer lead-in, so just simple things like rhythm, your run-up – those things come naturally the more you bowl, and he's been able to get more overs into his body.

"He looks fast, he's tall – I don't like facing him, he's a handful – so I think we'll see a few more overs out of him this summer."

Vodafone Men's Ashes

Squads

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Schedule

First Test: December 8-12, The Gabba

Second Test: December 16-20, Adelaide Oval

Third Test: December 26-30, MCG

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, TBC