Melbourne [Australia], March 31 (ANI): Australian head coach Andrew McDonald has backed all-rounder Cameron Green as a long-term option for the Aussies and opened up about the expectations fans have from all-rounders.

It has been a rough few months to be Cameron Green. Marked as one of Australia's premier all-rounders for the future, Green had a disappointing Ashes outing at home, scoring just 171 runs in eight innings at a sub-par average of 24.42 and taking four wickets at an average of over 70.

On the other hand, it was his like-to-like replacement, Beau Webster, who thrived with a measured 71* and three wickets in his only Ashes outing at Sydney. Green's T20 World Cup form, with just 24 runs in three innings and a wicket, has not helped the young all-rounder's case to establish himself as one of Australia's next big faces.

But despite all the scrutiny and form dip, Green stays a crucial part of Australia's long-term plans, with McDonald reaffirming his backing of the allrounder.

Speaking to SEN Radio, McDonald made it clear the team management continues to have strong faith in his long-term value.

'He is [Green] good enough and it is only a matter of time before it gets to a situation where he's performing for Australia,' McDonald said as quoted by ICC when asked if there is an intention to persist with Green in the Test XI.

One of the reasons behind Green's backing was his continued impressive run in first-class cricket.

After 37 Tests since his debut in 2020, Green has a batting average of 32.75 with two centuries and a bowling return of 38.94, but his numbers rise substantially in first-class cricket, averaging 45.52 with the bat. This goes further up in Australia's domestic competition, the Sheffield Shield, and becomes 53.38.

In his most recent outing for West Australia, just after the T20 World Cup, the 26-year-old smacked 135 against New South Wales.

'Anyone who is averaging that at Shield level suggests that he is ahead of the pack there. To me, it is only a matter of time before that connects into Test cricket,' noted McDonald.

The coach also pointed to the burden of expectations faced by the Australian all-rounders as soon as they become a part of the setup, drawing comparisons with past players who took time to establish themselves.

'You only have to look a short time ago: Mitch Marsh's journey, and Shane Watson, and even Andrew Symonds at the start of his career,' he said. 'There is an expectation around allrounders, it is almost like they want them to average 45 with the bat and less than 30 with the ball. And there have been very few that do that,' he added.

The head coach also opined that with Khawaja's retirement, options remained open for Australia to feature both Green and Webster.

'If you looked at the last team, let us just take that, Usman [Khawaja] has retired, and he vacates the number five position where he was opening and he went to five to finish off [during the final stages of his career]. But you have got Webster and Green that potentially can play in the same team, should we see it that way, so that gives us incredible flexibility.'

McDonald also spoke on Australia's Men's T20 World Cup failure, as they crashed out of the group stages with losses to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.

'Yeah, not our finest and an incredibly disappointing campaign,' McDonald said on Australia's run.

'For a team that is over the two-year period post the West Indies World Cup, winning at 80 per cent and doing a lot right, we did have a few moving parts late.'

McDonald opined that Australia's campaign preparations were hampered by untimely injuries to key players, such as the pace duo of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

'We lost Hazlewood and Cummins, and then Mitch Marsh was not able to play the first couple of games, but there are no excuses.'

Australia's next Test assignment comes up against Bangladesh at home in August, when they feature in a two-Test series in Darwin and Mackay. (ANI)