“In terms of his batting, he hasn’t got the output he’s wanted so far, but he’s had a couple of really good starts where he’s looked nice and comfortable at the crease,” Smith said of Green.
“It’s about just making those starts and turning them into bigger scores. We’ve seen how talented he is and what he can do in the game with bat, ball and in the field, he saves us a truckload of runs at gully with balls that no one else is going to stop.
Marnus Labuschagne among the kids at training.Credit: Getty Images
“We all thought Uzzy played really nicely last week, he’s putting the pressure on when he needed to, and he absorbed it when he needed to. He’s got that No.5 spot right now and Cam with the way his whole package is set up helps us out at seven as well.”
Richardson’s recall has been much-anticipated by the Australian selectors, who have seen him bowl high-quality spells in all of his three Test matches so far, the most recent against England in Adelaide in 2021.
“He’s just got a great set of skills, swings the ball both ways, seams it, accurate, a bit more skiddy than some of the others, he’s a bit shorter, bowls decent pace,” Smith said.
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“It’s been a long lay-off for him, and he’s done all the work to get back. He’s been around the group a couple of weeks now, getting his loads up, and he’s in a good spot.”
After Jofra Archer was ruled out of the rest of the series with a side strain, Smith and the rest of the Australian batting line-up will be confident of scoring enough runs to give their pace attack something to bowl at here – that’s after Travis Head tucks into the prawns.
“We’ll have a nice lunch together this afternoon and enjoy each other’s company and get ourselves ready for an exciting Boxing Day,” Smith said.
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“I know Travis Head’s looking forward to the lunch, and he’ll get stuck into the prawns, he’ll have more than everyone I can assure you, so it’s going to be a cool day with all the families around.”
Australian 12: Steve Smith (capt), Jake Weatherald, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett.
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