“He’s got a pretty demanding week this week as he reintroduces a few activities and you’ll see that probably play out in the net situation [and] during lunch time, in and around the game. It’s a bit of an unknown but there’s still optimism that he will take part in the series at some point.

On the bowling aspect of Green’s role, McDonald added: “That’s highly unlikely. I think with where he was with his shoulder injury, he missed a fair bit of work there. We’d be solely focused on getting him to return as a batter. We wouldn’t be putting that demand on him to return as a bowler. I think that would be too high a risk, as the information that I have.”

It is Green’s batting which is the significance loss for Australia after he had been the leading run-scorer in the series against Bangladesh in August and had appeared to find his home at No. 5 after a period in last season’s Ashes where he was shuffled around.

“It was great to see him sort of bounce back after last summer,” McDonald said. “And sometimes that’s the moment then when players do start to really believe in themselves. I mean, we continually believe in our players and trust what they’ve got, but sometimes that sort of internal belief and trust in their games doesn’t shine through until they have that sort of breakthrough moment.

“We felt like that was it for Cam, in terms of breaking through. Now he’s got a rehab to go through, but he’s a quality player. It’s the flexibility of what he gives us in terms of with the ball was something we’re looking forward to but… Beau Webster can arguably do a similar role if called upon with the ball.”

Australia are expecting spin to play a significant role at some point during the game – with Simon Harmer a strong chance of partnering Keshav Maharaj in the home attack – although they remain unsure whether it will be from the start of the match or emerge later in the contest.

McDonald indicated it was “likely” that Travis Head would continue to open – although said that a detailed discussion on the order had yet to take place – and added that Alex Carey wouldn’t be moved higher than the No. 6 spot he occupied against Bangladesh.

On the recall of Maddinson, who has not played first-class cricket since March 2025 shortly after which he was diagnosed with cancer, McDonald said that the body of work he had built up in the years before had been significant and were not eroded by a lean season for New South Wales before his illness.

“If you look [at] probably that a sweet spot that he was in, you could almost say it’s from ’18 to ’24, he was picked for an Australia A tour … so if Australia A selection is an indicator of where you are in the selectors’ radar, then he’s been there or thereabouts for a while,” McDonald said.

“I’d say it would be a surprise in the fact that he battled his own personal health there for a period of time. But, I mean, what a great story. He’s come back in, he’s had a full pre-season he’s looking fit and strong [and he] peels off 100 in the first [one-day] game. Anyone that’s been on the radar or there or thereabouts, they don’t sort of drop off automatically.

“I know that he had a tough period there leading into the health issues that he had. But if you look before that, [he’s a] quality player, can bat at the top, can bat in the middle, and we’re going to get challenged with spin, and those tours to the subcontinent that we have had in the past, he’s been well and truly in our thoughts for those.”