After being picked by Mumbai Indians for record 17.5 Crore during the 2023 IPL auction recently, Cameron Green showed his skills with his maiden five-wicket haul on the first day of the Boxing Day Test match against visiting South Africa played at Melbourne Cricket Ground, MCG on 26 December 2022.
Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and decided to field first. Sarel Erwee and Dean Elgar got the visitors off to a steady start before Scott Boland got the breakthrough dismissing Erwee caught by Khawaja. Cameron Green was bought before lunch break getting rid of Theunis de Bruyn put pressure on South Africa’s batting.
Marnus Labuschagne produced a stunning direct hit to dismiss Dean Elgar. Australia had a dream first session reducing South Africa to 58 for 4. Soon after the lunch break, Starc got rid of Khaya Zondo with a lovely catch by Marnus Labuschagne to leave visitors in deep trouble. Kyle Verryne and Marco Jansen steadied the ship for South Africa keeping the scoreboard ticking.
Both South African batters looked impressive against the Australian bowlers. South Africa ended the second session at 144 for 5. Cameron Green was bought into an attack and got the result immediately getting rid of Kyle Verryne with a simple catch to Steve Smith. Verryne and Jansen added 112 runs for the sixth wicket.
Australia dominate South Africa on Day 1
Green then went through the batting lineup of South Africa dismissing Jansen and Kagiso Rabada. He ended the innings by getting rid of Lungi Ngidi with a lovely delivery to skittle out the visitors for just 189. He kept on bowling decent lines and lengths not allowing the South African batters to score runs easily. It was a superb bowling effort as Green ended with his best Test figures of 5 for 27 in 10.4 overs.
Green made his Test debut for Australia on 17 December 2020, against India. He has played so far 18 fixtures with 23 wickets and would be looking to add much more in second innings.
Australia lost an early wicket of Usman Khawaja. David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne looked decent enough as the hosts ended with the first day on 45 for 1.
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