'May not always pay off' - Green promises to bat positively in Adelaide too

Cameron Green admits his dismissal to Brydon Carse in the Brisbane Test looked "quite bad" and caused some "embarrassment," but says he will still look to take positive options with the bat after two unfulfilled starts in the series so far.

Green fell in bizarre fashion at the Gabba when he and Steve Smith had England at their mercy. Australia were 291 for 3 on the second evening facing a 56-over old ball with Green 45 not out and Smith unbeaten on 61. There were 80 minutes left until stumps and the home side was just 44 runs shy of claiming a first-innings lead.

Green was facing an endless bouncer barrage from Carse with a 3-6 leg-side field. He had earlier twice backed away and slapped short balls into the vast expanses on the offside. But his backing away became too predictable and Carse double bluffed him with a straight half-volley. Green was almost off the pitch when the stumps lit up after he failed to reach it.

It nearly sparked a collapse that would have let England back into the game, as Alex Carey was dropped next ball and Smith holed out three balls later. But Australia steadied and Green's dismissal caused no harm to his team. He admitted he would take some learnings from it.

"It looks quite bad when you get out," Green said on Sunday at Adelaide Oval. "You walk off a little bit embarrassed. But I think they're really great learnings for future games.

"I think we were 30 or 40 runs behind, was the extra runs pretty crucial at night? Maybe, maybe not. All those things that you kind of weigh up during an innings to work out what the best thing is for the team.

"It's a really good plan on [Carse's] end. I think the way that we were going, that's the best way that I saw it. It's always not going to pay off.

"There'll be different ways I go about it, depending on how the game situation."

There will be less criticism internally than externally in the aftermath of Green's mistake. While it looked poor from the outside, Australia's hierarchy are pleased overall with Green's method since returning to Nos. 5-6 for this series. They wanted him to bring some of the intent, movement patterns and ball-striking he shows in white-ball cricket to his Test batting. And there has been clear evidence of that so far.

But frustratingly for him, and even more so for his critics, he's looked as good as any batter in the series only to have two scores of 24 and 45 to show for it.

Green's series in some ways has been emblematic of his career. He's batted twice in 26 days since the series has started, half as many times of all of England's batters and four of Australia's, and shown immense promise whilst averaging just 34.50 without a score of substance.

His bowling has mirrored his batting in some ways too. His pace has been high coming off injury. He looks fit and fresh. There have been some excellent deliveries. But his consistency of length and line has been absent. He has looked like a bowler short on match experience.

Green is at weird place in his career. He's 26 and has played 34 Tests. He can no longer hide behind being a young player learning his craft, yet he is the youngest player in the Australian team by five years.

But he has also played so little cricket in recent years, much like he has in this series, that it feels like at times he is starting his career over and over again. He could not answer a question about how the Adelaide Oval pitch would play because he missed the last Test here last year through injury. He also had no idea how the Perth Stadium pitch would play ahead of the series opener, having never batted on it in a Test match despite being five years into his career.

He does feel like his batting is in the best place it has been.

"I feel like I'm a better batter than I was a few years ago, and hopefully I'm a better batter in the future, than now," Green said.

"I feel like I've just got more ways to go about it. I think when you when you first start, you've probably got a cover drive and a pull shot. Where now you got to walk down the wicket, you've got a bit more confidence to back away, play certain shots that you find that are appropriate for that situation. I think that's the beauty of being in a team of really experienced guys around me that I'm watching them, how they go about it in certain situations, and then trying to build that into my game."

But a bit like Joe Root until last week, there is a sizeable monkey that Green is yet to shake off his back.

Root had failed to score a century in Australia until his 16th Test down under, Green has played 17 at home and is still waiting to post his first. He has two overseas, the same number as Marnus Labuschagne and one more than Travis Head. But most Australian fans only watch their side at home between December and January, and Green is yet to reach three figures in a time zone that is appropriate to them. But like Root, he is trusting the process and not focusing on the weight of the monkey.

"I think if you're really too focused on a certain outcome, I think you just push it further away," Green said. "So I'm sure will happen at some time."