Cameron Green is prepared to move batting positions again depending on what Australia's selectors decide for the deciding Test in Cape Town, having confirmed his availability after recovering from injury, but believes he is best suited to No. 4 or No. 5.
Green has not played since suffering an abdominal injury in the final ODI against South Africa on September 30, and he won't be able to bowl in the final Test although was sending down deliveries during training at Newlands on Saturday.
"I'm all good to go," he said. "Pretty surprised with how quick it's actually healed or how functional I feel only a few weeks after."
Green is all but certain to return to the XI which means at least one change from the side which lost by an innings and 31 runs in Gqeberha and there could be various moving parts with the batting order. Marnus Labuschagne, Nic Maddinson and Beau Webster are all under pressure for their places, but there is a good chance Labsuchagne is given one more opportunity.
Recommended Read
If Green returns for Maddinson there would need to be reshuffling of the order, in which case Matt Renshaw would likely return to open meaning Green could slot back in at No. 5 where he enjoyed success against Bangladesh in August. But if there's a combination where Renshaw, who made 272 runs in the first Test, remains in that spot, then Green would need to move.
When he batted at No. 4 in 2024 , which is where he has played the majority of his domestic first-class career, he scored his career-best 174 not out against New Zealand in Wellington although it seems unlikely Steven Smith will be shifted from that position.
Since the start of 2025, there is a significant gap between the average of those batting No. 5 for Australia (53.36) and the next-best position which is No. 6 (36.33).
"I think I've had a lot of experience up and down the order," Green said. "I think I'm well suited at four and five, but obviously we've had some pretty incredible cricketers bat in those positions. So I'm very happy to move up and down the order depending on what the team wants."
During the Bangladesh series Green found a more natural tempo to his batting which is when he plays his best long-form cricket, having had challenges in marrying the demands of becoming an all-format batter, particularly the impact of T20 cricket.
"Certainly [the Tests] up in Mackay and Darwin were huge positives in kind of how I wanted to play the game," he said. "There are probably learnings I took from the last Shield game I played, [in] kind of how I wanted to play and it felt pretty natural to me."
Green has previously played three Tests against South Africa. At the MCG in 2022 he made a battling half-century having suffered a fractured finger when hit by Anrich Nortje. Then last year he batted at No. 3 in the World Test Championship final on his comeback from the back injury which kept him out of the 2024-25 season. He made 4 and 0 at Lord's, dismissed by Kagiso Rabada both times, but had more success in the role on the tour of West Indies which followed before moving back down the order in the Ashes.
Rabada and Marco Jansen took 12 wickets between them to help level the series but, despite not batting in the middle for close to month, Green is excited by the prospect of taking them on with the series at stake.
"They're obviously at the very top of their game at the moment," he said. "They're probably [in] the top few bowlers in the world. You always love those challenges. You want to step up against those guys and show what you can do."
Green detailed the unusual nature of the injury he suffered in Potchefstroom which came two balls after he had been struck "where you don't want to get hit" by Corbin Bosch. The next delivery he swung for six, but it was the following ball, as he looked to pull, when the significant damage was caused.
"I think there's definitely a pretty clear link between getting hit and then doing the injury," Green said. "I think it's too much of a coincidence for them not to be related. Two balls later, I went to go play a shot just behind the wicket. Obviously, I had to lengthen my muscle and I think my muscle was pretty keen to not move at that stage after I got hit. So, I think the stretching of the muscle … just had a tear through the lower ab."
Meanwhile, Green remains unsure what November will look like for him when he returns home. Western Australia have two Sheffield Shield matches before the Test squad links up in Perth for the series against New Zealand but they overlap with the ODI and T20I series against England. As the ODI World Cup is less than a year away that format is another priority for the selectors but the T20Is may not feature many of the Test players.