Jackson Barrett: Bowling load concerns could bring all-rounders into Cam Green replacement frame

Australian selectors are staring down a crucial call on team balance that will shape this summer’s Test series against India.

How do you replace Cam Green? With a batter, or an all-rounder?

Green will miss at least the first Test of the summer with stress fractures in his back. That is expected to be confirmed by Cricket Australia in coming days, once he — and they — make a call on if he has surgery.

But there are growing fears Australia’s prized all-rounder will be out for a large chunk of the series.

It also appears Steve Smith is not keen to continue opening and that his short-lived stint in the role could be over. Green’s absence will likely allow him to slide to No.4.

While the empty spot on the whiteboard might be at the top, concerns over the bowling loads of Australia’s quicks will bring other options into the frame.

There will be a heavy emphasis on Nathan Lyon’s bowling this summer as staff attempt to nurse the big three quicks — Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood — through a gruelling five-Test series.

Question marks linger over what contribution Mitch Marsh will be able to make in bowling efforts, although it is understood there is a chance he bowls in WA’s next match.

He returned to the crease in the second-last game of the white-ball tour in England and missed the final game sore.

He is not bowling in the first round of Sheffield Shield games this week.

Perhaps they can get away with it in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane, but less so on flatter wickets in Melbourne and Sydney where the demand on three quicks and Lyon could become too great.

That’s why what we thought was a bat-off for an opening spot between Cam Bancroft, Matthew Renshaw and Marcus Harris, now includes Michael Neser and Beau Webster.

Bancroft made a golden duck in the first innings of Western Australia’s clash with Queensland.

He was, possibly fittingly, dismissed by Michael Neser in a master spell that finished with five wickets.

Renshaw missed out too, but Harris hit 143 for Victoria at Junction Oval and backed it up with a half-century in the second innings.

Neser’s batting form in first-class cricket makes him a live option, if a call is made to bolster the bowling stocks.

The possibility of either Smith, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne or even Marsh opening the batting to make room for another all-rounder feels increasingly real.

Aaron Hardie is another option, but he missed the opening round of red-ball matches with a quad injury. He is pushing hard to play the second round of shield games.

Webster put up historic numbers in last year’s shield for an all-rounder, but there are doubts around his ability to really impact games with the ball across more than a handful of overs. He would slot in comfortably in the middle order though.

If Neser plays, it would leave wicket-keeper Alex Carey batting at No.6.

“I think every bowler in the country would say they’ve got their eye on that,” the Queensland quick responded to questions over Test selection this week.

“There’s not much you can do bar put good performances on the board.”

And as if this debate had room for any more spanners — New South Wales teenager Sam Konstas became the youngest player since Ricky Ponting to score centuries in both innings of a shield match.

There is a feeling that if the next two summers didn’t feature Australia’s two biggest Test rivals, the 19-year-old would be elevated in conversations.

Because of the importance of the series, how settled the team has been for years now and that their next move could overhaul team balance, this is the biggest selection call the panel have made in years.