..His father, Gary, said that when Green was born there were concerns over his life expectancy

Australia allrounder Cameron Green has revealed he was born with chronic kidney disease and at one stage had a life expectancy of just 12 but has been able to manage the issues throughout his professional cricketing career.

Green, 24, was left out of Australia’s XI for the opening Test of the summer against Pakistan in Perth with Mitchell Marsh usurping him as the incumbent allrounder in the side during the Ashes series in England earlier this year.

But Green, who is by nature a very shy and reserved person, revealed to Channel 7 that he has been dealing with the disease for his entire life, having hardly made it known to even team-mates or friends.

“My parents got told when I was born that I had chronic kidney disease,” Green told Channel 7. “Basically, there’s no symptoms, it was just picked up through ultrasounds.
“Chronic kidney disease is basically a progressive disease of your kidney’s health function. Unfortunately, mine doesn’t filter the blood as well as other kidneys. They’re at about 60% at the moment which is stage two.

“I consider myself very lucky that I’m not as affected physically by chronic kidney disease as other people who are affected by the same thing.

“With chronic kidney disease there’s five stages, with stage one being the least severe, and stage five being transplant or dialysis. Fortunately, I’m stage two, but if you don’t look after them enough, it goes back down.

“Kidneys can’t get better. It’s irreversible. So anything you can do to slow the progression, you basically try and do.”

Green’s disease was picked up when his mother Bee Tracey had her 19-week pregnancy scan. His father Gary, who has been hugely influential on Green’s cricket career, said there were initial fears he may not live past the age of 12.