3 reasons why Australia must drop Cameron Green for the 5th Ashes Test at The Oval

Cameron Green rightly described the draw in the fourth Ashes Test as a "jail-break" for the Australians.

The tourists scored 317 runs in the first innings and conceded 592, courtesy of some stunning aggressive batting from Zak Crawley, Joe Root, and Jonny Bairstow. They were 214/5 in the second innings when rain washed away the final day completely, allowing them to retain the Ashes.

Still, there's an understanding around that they need to switch things up now to avoid getting into that jail again. One option could've been dropping David Warner and asking Green to open the innings but the latter has himself called it unrealistic.

The other option is dropping the all-rounder and bringing in off-spinner Todd Murphy.

Here are three reasons why that could be the right move:

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#1 Spinners' success at The Oval

Murphy would be, at the very least, a decent threat at the Oval.

Todd Murphy is no Ravichandran Ashwin, and as Tom Moody recently said, no Nathan Lyon either. But he's Australia's best spinner in the squad and you need a spinner at the Oval. Since 2015, spinners have averaged 28.16 at the ground, the best for all venues in England which have hosted at least five Test innings in this period.

Three of the top-five wicket-takers since 2015 at the Oval are spinners. England will play one of them - Moeen Ali - and it'll only be wise for Australia to play Murphy as well.

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#2 Cameron Green's indifferent form

Although a poor decision in hindsight, there was some understandable logic behind Australia playing both Cameroon Green and Mitchell Marsh in the fourth Test. Ben Stokes had smacked Todd Murphy all around the park in the previous Test, Green was doing decently well with the ball, and both made them a better batting side.

But now it's the right time to move on, despite the fact that the tourists struggled with the bat at Old Trafford. Murphy is necessary at the Oval and Australia won't miss Green too much with the bat for he's yet to score a half-century in the series. The big all-rounder averages 20.60, much lower than his career overall of 36.

As for bowling, Green has bowled well and picked up five wickets in the series but Mitchell Marsh is more than capable of making up for his absence in the fifth Test. Since his first Test at the venue in 2015, Marsh has picked 12 wickets here, the most among all members of Australia's current squad and only one behind Nathan Lyon.

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#3 Team balance

Mitchell Marsh is more than capable of playing as the only all-rounder.

Test teams generally play at least one spinner even on pace-friendly wickets. Playing five pacers allows batters to get used to the same range of pace, as we saw with the English in the fourth Test Australia especially need a spinner to hold one end and let the towering pacers rotate and bowl short spells from the other.

Moody explained this brilliantly in a recent interview with ESPNcricinfo where he made a point for Murphy replacing Green.

"To me, the attack did look like it lacked balance," he said. "Murphy is an exciting young bowler. He is not Nathan Lyon, but Nathan Lyon is not Shane Warne either. Murphy needs to create his own path and have his own journey; he has started that already and he has started pretty successfully."

"I'd be surprised if he doesn't come into the side just to create that balance, but also give the team better combinations for Pat Cummins to lean towards. In that fourth Test match, it was almost like he was looking around the field for options - and he was nearly looking in the mirror all the time," he added.

Playing a slightly inexperienced spinner against Bazball is like a counter-attack but perhaps that's what Australia need to do to win the Ashes.