Jake Weatherald, Matt Renshaw in ‘knife-edge’ selection call

Green has bowled just four overs in a single Sheffield Shield match this summer so far. He is scheduled to bowl again in Western Australia’s next Shield match on November 11, but the selectors want extra bowling cover in case Green is still not fully fit.

This means Beau Webster, who has made very few mistakes in six matches to date, will retain his place in the Test side. But the decision would also force Marnus Labuschagne to open the batting as he did in his last Test, the World Championship final at Lord’s in June.

Australia’s preferred configuration is for Green to play as the lone all-rounder, making room for a specialist opening man to complement Usman Khawaja at the top, then allowing Labuschagne to bat three, Steve Smith four and Travis Head five.

The reserve pace bowling spots will be closer to the front line than before, with captain Pat Cummins heading to Perth but not yet ready to play due to his recovery from a back injury. Brendan Doggett, who missed the West Indies tour due to injury, is expected to be in the squad.

In recent years, Australia’s permanent reserve pace bowlers Sean Abbott and Michael Neser have been dueling for the last place in the squad.

He had match figures of 7-86 for South Australia against WA at the WACA Ground last week and is highly regarded for his combination of high speed, height and considerable skill.

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“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, so if I get a call to join that team I’ll be ready and we’ll see what happens,” Doggett said in Adelaide on Tuesday. “I’ve been in and around here a few times, but I think we have the best bowling attack in world cricket and I think we’ve done that for a long time.

“So it’s great for me to be able to share the dressing room with these world-class bowlers, to watch how they go about it, how tough they are and how professional they are, so it’s been a great learning for me to be in that environment.

“These guys have won pretty much every trophy you can win, so I guess I can look at that and feel sorry for myself, or I can say ‘well, what a great time to be around guys like that. You know what I mean? They’ll go down in history as the best to ever do it, so yeah, it’s pretty nice to be able to rub shoulders with them.”

• Possible Australian Test squad: Steve Smith (captain), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey, Jake Weatherald, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett. Pat Cummins also goes to Perth

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