Cameron Green's Spine Surgery Sidelines Him from Major Cricket Tours

Australian all-rounder Cameron Green will undergo spinal surgery, sidelining him for notable tournaments, including the Border Gavaskar Trophy and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. This marks his fifth stress fracture in the lower back. Recovery could take up to six months, impacting Green's participation in upcoming cricket seasons.

Australian cricket all-rounder Cameron Green faces a substantial hiatus from the sport as he prepares for surgery on a lower spine stress fracture, which is his fifth occurrence. This operation effectively rules him out of the eagerly awaited Border Gavaskar Trophy against India, slated to commence on November 22.

The projected recovery period for Green spans approximately six months, consequently keeping him out of Australia's Test series in Sri Lanka scheduled for February and potentially the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan. He might also miss the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The 25-year-old initially reported back pain during Australia's UK tour in September, leading to scans that confirmed the stress fracture diagnosis.

Stress fractures frequently impact fast bowlers such as James Pattinson, Jason Behrendorff, Ben Dwarshuis, and India's Jasprit Bumrah. However, Cricket Australia revealed that Green suffers from a unique defect in an adjacent area to the fracture, contributing to the injury's severity.

"Extensive consultations concluded that surgery would stabilize Cameron's defect and minimize future recurrence risks," Cricket Australia announced. This issue has plagued Green from his youth through 2019, prior to his Test debut.

ESPNcricinfo reported that the procedure, overseen by New Zealand-based surgeons Grahame Inglis and Rowan Schouten, successfully rehabilitated 24 out of 26 patients. Australian pacer Jason Behrendorff underwent similar surgery in 2010, missing first-class cricket for a decade but remained free of further back issues post-recovery.

Ben Dwarshuis required ten months to return to first-class cricket following surgery, while James Pattinson re-entered the first-class arena after 12 months, with a 22-month hiatus before resuming Test cricket duties for Australia.

(With inputs from agencies.)