Cam Green can pencil name into World Test Championship Final XI as Gloucestershire faces Leicestershire

West Australian all-rounder Cam Green is on the verge of pencilling his name into Australia’s XI for June’s World Test Championship final as Gloucestershire faces Leicestershire in Bristol. Green’s return from back surgery could hardly have gone better last week, the stroke-making middle-order hitter cracking a century on the opening day of his County debut against Kent. The knock sent a firm reminder to Test selectors that the 198cm Perth product is more than capable of playing as a pure batsman while he strengthens his back for bowling ahead of a home Ashes in November. But the task got tougher for Green in his second of five County clashes as he took on two English Test bowlers in leggie Rehan Ahmed and rising left-arm quick Josh Hull on a green deck. The Foxes have used Ahmed as an opening batter so far this season, the 20-year-old notching a ton last week, but the youngster earned his Test cap as a bowling all-rounder on the sub-continent. He has 22 Test match scalps from five outings for England and could prove a handful in the back end of the four days after not being required on an opening day where 14 wickets fell. Hull was a surprise Test selection at The Oval last year against Sri Lanka, England blooding the then 19-year-old giant. He claimed 3-53 in his first innings but has not featured since as England played overseas. However, international selectors will be quietly joyed by his return from injury as he gave Green a working over before dismissing the Aussie leg before for just four. It was a miserable 24-delivery stay at the crease for the Green after Gloucestershire’s top order crumbled in bowler-friendly conditions. Green missed a series of leg-side balls before a fielder was moved to leg-slip in what turned out to be a bluff, Hull sending down a full ball on off stump that the big West Aussie missed, subsequently taking it in the pad to his demise. Gloucestershire fell for 252, former Victorian bowler Ian Holland claiming 3-36, with Leicestershire 4-91 at stumps. However, Green will get another look at it in the second dig on a potentially flattened pitch on days two and three. And one good score against the Peter Handscomb-led Leicestershire will ratchet up the pressure on Australia’s middle order, and the out-of-form Marnus Labuschagne, to keep their place to take on South Africa at Lord’s. Green made a remarkable unbeaten 174 batting at No.4 against New Zealand in 2024 to show he will be the future of Australia’s middle order before spinal fusion surgery cost him an entire summer. While he has been out Steve Smith has moved back to that slot while Beau Webster shone on all-rounder duties after a long-awaited debut. It leaves Labuschagne in the gun, having averaged meagre returns of 34.91 in 2023, 30.93 in 2024 and just 14.50 so far in 2025. If the Queenslander were to be dropped, a resurgent Smith could move to first drop and allow Green back in at No.4. County coach and former England international Mark Alleyne has already lauded Green’s impact on the Gloucestershire dressing room, which is led by fellow West Australian Cam Bancroft, who made a 13-ball duck in the first innings against the Foxes. “Of course, we like his (Green’s) runs in the middle, but being an overseas (player) and coming into a club is much more than just performances in the middle,” Alleyne said after Gloucestershire’s match with Kent finished in a draw. “What he had done prior to that was his practice was great; he is such a good lad, and he communicates well about the game. “Already without the 100, he had started to make an impact on the group, so that has really consolidated the start to his Gloucestershire career, and he scored such an important 100 at a tricky time for us.”