Enough Green seen for selectors to make call

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To twist a Wildean aphorism, it's fair to suggest the only feeling more reassuring than being scrutinised by national selectors is knowing they're so suitably impressed they need no longer undertake their study.

Cameron Green could not have done more to impress the national panel, two-thirds of whom were at Drummoyne Oval for the second day of Australia A's tour match against the Indians, as they begin final deliberations over the make-up of their team for the upcoming Vodafone Test Series.

However, by the time Green dispatched Umesh Yadav's first delivery with the second new-ball to the cover boundary to complete his fifth first-class century, those two selectors – panel chair Trevor Hohns and George Bailey – had already departed the venue.

The pair left Drummoyne Oval when the 21-year-old all-rounder was 95, and seemingly destined for the milestone having been the only member of the strong Australia A batting line-up to reach 50.

Rather than see the celebratory moment, Hohns and Bailey drove back to their Sydney hotel, perhaps to consult with the third member of the panel – men's team coach Justin Langer.

The trio could have justifiably inked Green's name onto the 'likely' list for the Vodafone Series opener at Adelaide Oval starting in 10 days.

They might have been hoping to afford the same surety to several others in the Australia A team, but the cheap dismissal of potential Test opening pair Will Pucovski (1) and Joe Burns (4) meant they perhaps remain on the sheet in heavy pencil pending individual results over coming days.

There was one name the selectors can put a line through for the immediate future, with seamer Jackson Bird diagnosed with a low-grade calf strain after sending down just three deliveries of the morning's opening over.

Bird will be sidelined for up to three weeks, although he did risk further injury as he raced down stairs to strap on the pads when Australia A's eighth wicket fell with Green on 99, sparking fears the rising star might be stranded one short of his hundred with only tailender Mark Steketee in support.

As events unfolded, Bird wasn't required as Steketee negotiated five deliveries from spinner Hanuma Vihari before Umesh – India's best bowler with 3-44 from 18 overs – took the new ball that was immediately thrashed through the covers.

In addition to sating the selectors, Green surely impressed Test captain Tim Paine (44) with whom he added 104 for the sixth wicket as Australia A recovered from their shaky start to finish day two 8-286 (39 runs ahead) with the all-rounder unbeaten on 114.

It takes his first-class return for the summer so far to 477 runs at an average of 95 including two centuries and a high score of 197 against New South Wales in the opening rounds of the Marsh Sheffield Shield.

He should have been out for 24 today, having edged a straightforward waist-high catch to Vihari at second slip off Umesh's bowling which the fielder somehow managed to drop.

He was also missed by keeper Wriddhiman Saha on 78, a significantly tougher chance diving low to his right but in between those blemishes Green was a study in concentration interspersed with bursts of savage power including a huge six over long-on from Test spinner Ravi Ashwin.

Australia A coach Matthew Mott, who led Green on a under-16 tour to Sri Lanka when the Perth boy was essentially a fast bowler, has a keener understanding than many of Green's evolution to someone on the cusp of Test selection as a specialist batter.

"I've seen a lot of him in the last couple of weeks, he's been in and around the (Australia) white-ball squad so I've thrown a fair few balls to him and I've been thoroughly impressed," Mott said tonight.

"A very nice, simple technique, plays very technically correct but I supposed what stood out most was what a great temperament he had and appetite to score runs.

"And I think everyone saw that today.

"He got through some tricky periods there and his partnership with Painey was important to set up the day."

Those tricky periods were generated mostly by the Indians' Test-capped bowlers Umesh and Ashwin (2-58 from 19 overs) who pushed their respective cases for inclusion in the opening Test.

While the Drummoyne pitch offered some encouraging bounce to pace bowlers, especially those operating from the Parramatta River (northern) end, Australia A's top order largely had themselves to blame for their lack of productivity.

The much-awaited union of Burns and Pucovski at the top of the order generated great interest in the weeks leading up to the three-day tour game, but few runs when the pair finally got to the middle.

Pucovski was given little width to work with from the Indians' new-ball attack of Umesh and Mohammed Siraj, but the right-hander appeared compact in defence and unfazed when the tourists launched a loud lbw shout.

However, the 22-year-old's inability to score meant he seized on the first loose offering from Umesh, a short and wide delivery that Pucovski slapped to point where Shubman Gill took a neat catch near his ankles.

Pucovski's 23-ball innings included a solitary scoring shot, and the likely Test opening partnership contributed just four before it was broken.

Midway through Umesh's next over, the top-order combination was reunited in the dressing room after Burns' attempt to let a short delivery pass harmlessly by cost him wicket as it brushed the blade of the Queenslander's bat.

His dismissal for four means his first-class record so far this summer shows 61 runs at an average of 10.17 and it's unclear whether he'll have a second innings in this match or if he'll take part in the second (day-night) tour game at the SCG from Friday.

There's a chance both openers will head directly to Adelaide to begin Test preparations with other members of the squad, although Langer revealed he was tempted to see some players remain in Sydney for the pink-ball tour game against a full-strength India.

The loss of both openers within seven overs presented an opportunity for Marcus Harris to further his case for a Test recall, and after a cautious start the former Australia opener (batting at three in this game) became the dominant partner in his third-wicket partnership with skipper Travis Head.

The left-handers added 55 before Head fell to what proved the final delivery before lunch.

It was a wide, full delivery from Siraj the Test batter could have happily left alone, but instead aimed a hefty drive with the bat far from his body and squirted it on to his left stump to his pained disbelief.

Ashwin, who is expected to play as India's specialist spinner in the Tests, revived memories of eras past by bowling while wearing his dark blue India cap.

But it was his right arm that brought more meaningful results, initially by sliding a delivery into Harris from around the wicket that the left-hander tried to cut but ultimately edged to slip where Ajinkya Rahane held an impressive reflex catch.

Harris's departure for 35 left Australia A 4-68 and almost 200 runs adrift of the Indians tally, a target that seemed even more distant when Harris Victoria teammate Nic Maddinson fell soon after.

The tourists felt they had Maddinson caught behind when he'd scored five, with replays suggesting the left-hander inside-edged a catch to keeper Saha although their certainty wasn't shared by umpire Shawn Craig.

They received greater assistance from Craig's umpiring partner Bruce Oxenford who judged Maddinson lbw to Ashwin as he attempted to sweep, having scored a breezy 23 from 32 balls that included four boundaries.

However, Green found solid support from Test skipper Paine, who was doubtless impressed by what he saw of the powerful allrounder from 22 yards away.

Green reached his half-century (from 78 balls faced) courtesy of a back cut that scorched to the fence from the bowling of the Indians' young seamer Kartik Tiyagi.

The 20-year-old quick, playing just his second first-class game having been brought to Australia as a development player within the expanded Test squad, generated good pace from a loping run-up but battled to find rhythm in his approach.

Numerous times, when bowling from the northern end where the afternoon breeze whipped off the adjacent river, he aborted his run-up midway through and at one stage hurled the ball into the turf in frustration.

He ended the day with the unflattering figures of 0-51 from nine overs, and he and Sidaj seem likely to make way for Test new-ball pair Jasprit Bumrah (who bowled in the nets at Drummoyne earlier today) and Mohammed Shami in the final warm-up game starting at the SCG on Friday.

Squads

Australia A (first game): Joe Burns, Will Pucovski, Marcus Harris, Travis Head (c), Cameron Green, Nic Maddinson, Tim Paine (wk), Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Mark Steketee, Harry Conway, Will Sutherland

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

India Test squad not involved in the T20s: Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

First Test: December 17-21, Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (day-night)

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT