Australia allrounder Cameron Green's chances of playing any part in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy have all but disappeared with back surgery emerging as a possibility following his latest injury.
Surgery is a legitimate option but it is among a host of recovery plans that are still being worked out by Cricket Australia's medical and high performance team following Green's injury on the UK limited-overs tour.
Green flew home from the UK after complaining of back soreness following the third ODI against England at Chester-le-Street. He had a scan in England and in Australia on return but CA's medical team have taken their time in assessing how to move forward with no formal plan yet released.
Green, 25, has had four previous stress fractures but none since 2019 and has been managed very carefully through his first four years in international cricket.
If surgery is decided as the option, it would rule him out of the entire summer. If a non-surgical recovery plan is taken there is a possibility he could still play cricket this summer as a batter only, but the timeframe on when he would be available is still to be determined.
Green's absence from the series would pave the way for Australia to reshuffle the batting order and allow Steven Smith to move back to No.4. An indication of his batting position for the series is set to come when he returns to Sheffield Shield cricket for New South Wales on Sunday October against Victoria at the MCG.
If Green is unavailable, and Smith moves to four, it opens the door for an opener to be picked from Shield cricket with Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Matt Renshaw all in the running as they were last summer before Smith put his hand up to open.
Harris made the perfect start to the Shield season scoring 143 for Victoria against Tasmania, but it has come on a very placid pitch at the Junction Oval where in-from Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster has also scored a century. Bancroft and Renshaw both made low scores in the first innings of the match between Western Australia and Queensland at the WACA ground.