Cameron Green, the Western Australia allrounder who has been tipped to soon feature for Australia, will be unable to bowl for the foreseeable future after suffering a stress fracture of his back.
Green, 20, has been lauded by Ricky Ponting and compared to Andrew Flintoff after starring for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield with two centuries this season but has been unable to bowl in the last two matches and that will now extend at least throughout the Big Bash.
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"Follow up scans this week on Cameron's lower back have revealed the early stages of a lumbar stress fracture," Western Australia sports science medicine manager, Nick Jones, said. "This will require an extended period of rest from bowling to ensure the fracture heals adequately.
"No timeframe has been set for Cameron to return to bowling, however we are not expecting him to be bowling during the BBL. He will continue to be available for selection as a batter."
Speaking earlier this week, Green had been confident that his current back soreness had not been serious and viewed himself as a genuine allrounder in the future.
"Coming through as a junior I've always seen myself as a genuine allrounder," he said. "At times for WA, I was definitely a bowling allrounder, batting nine or ten and not scoring too many runs. So I'm pretty happy I'm getting a couple of runs out the way but in the future, I'd like to be a genuine allrounder."
Trevor Hohns, the Australia selection chairman, said that picking someone at a young age would not be an issue but Green's back problem would be monitored.
"I don't have an issue with his age, it's more about whether his body can cope and what he can do bowling, particularly in the allrounder category," Hohns said. "We know he's a very good bat, he is a fine up-and-coming young player."