Hardik Pandya, Ben Stokes left out as Nathan Lyon names next Jacques Kallis of cricket

Australia spinner Nathan Lyon has named the next Jacques Kallis of cricket. Leaving out the likes of Ben Stokes and Hardik Pandya, the off-spinner said that Cameron Green is the next big all-rounder. He played against Green in a one of the matches of the Sheffield Shield and was given a lot of headache by tall batter.

The selectors opened with Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja after David Warner’s retirement from Test cricket and Cameron Green was included in the side to take the No.4 slot.

Meanwhile, West Indies made early inroads through its pace and made Australia work hard for the first time in its dominant test summer during the day-night test match at the Gabba on Saturday.

Australia lost its recently named test player of the year Usman Khawaja (10) and Marnus Labuschagne (5) to end Day 3 at 60-2, still needing 156 runs to make a clean sweep of its test summer that saw them rout Pakistan 3-0 and beat the West Indies by 10 wickets inside three days in the first test at Adelaide.

Steve Smith, who is yet to make an impression in his new role as an opener after the retirement of David Warner, was unbeaten on 33 with Cameroon Green negotiating the last half an hour, not out on 9.

“The dressing room is confident with Steve Smith and Cameron Green at the crease. I bowled to Greeny in Shield and he gave me a lot of headache. I feel he can be the next Jacques Kallis of cricket batting at No.4,” he said after the stumps on Day 3.

Kallis was the greatest all-rounder in the history of cricket. He represented South Africa in 166 Test matches and scored 13289 runs at an average of 55.37. He hit 45 hundreds and 58 fifties in his career.

Kallis took 292 wickets with five five-wicket hauls in the longest format of the game. Green has an average of 46 with the bat and 33 with the ball in first-class cricket.a

Green scored a century against India but was then hit by a string of low scores, leading to his removal from the Test team. He was replaced by Mitchell Marsh, who has been a revelation since then.

The retirement of David Warner opened the door for him. Lyon also refused to call Steve Smith’s performance as an opener concerning, considering his poor returns.

“I don’t think there is a need to discuss about Steve Smit’s numbers. He is the greatest batter of this decade and we don’t talk about his batting. We laugh when people say different things about Steve’s form. He is the greatest problem solver I have had the chance to play with in international cricket,’ Nathan Lyon said.