Cameron Bancroft Should Have Been Selected Over David Warner For Australia’s Blockbuster U.K. Tour

Cameron Bancroft scored 289 more Sheffield Shield runs this Australian domestic season than second-placed South Australia batter Daniel Drew and faced 664 balls more than him.

The prolific opener just last month had, quite fittingly, hit the winning runs to secure Western Australia’s Shield title. It capped a dominant season for him where Bancroft was also an extremely valuable member of WA’s 50-over triumph and Perth Scorchers’ continual domination of the Big Bash League.

Despite a brilliant domestic season across formats, appearing right at the peak of his powers at age 30, Bancroft was contentiously overlooked for Australia’s touring squad to the U.K, which incorporates the World Test Championship final against India and the first two Tests of the blockbuster Ashes series.

The writing was on the wall after Bancroft missed out on a Cricket Australia central contract recently. Selectors, instead, stuck with aging David Warner, who has been in a form rut stretching several years and sports a mediocre record on the seaming wickets of the U.K, and Matthew Renshaw and Marcus Harris – batters with middling Test returns.

Bancroft, too, had limited success in 10 Tests he played in 2017-19 sandwiched between a lengthy ban for his part in the infamous ball-tampering scandal. But he deserves another chance at international cricket having clearly improved his game although it clearly didn’t stir the selectors.

It’s somewhat bewildering Bancroft didn’t even make the squad – really, he should be Usman Khawaja’s opening partner against India – in a smack of the face for his efforts in resurrecting a career that was spiralling out of control a few years ago when he couldn’t even crack WA’s Shield team.

He slowly refined his game, where a more formidable Bancroft now can shift gears having previously often been bogged down at the crease. A key to his revival has been the private mentoring of former coach Justin Langer, who as a child Bancroft had a poster of on his bedroom wall.

Undoubtedly his batting improvement has been impressive, but Bancroft’s mental resolve since the scars of the sandpaper debacle stands out. In the immediate aftermath, with the humiliating images of him putting sandpaper down his pants becoming the enduring image from the cheating scandal, Bancroft hunkered down in his hometown of Perth.

The times he did gamely venture out, Bancroft had to uncomfortably deal with quips in the streets. Most were good-natured but some veered towards nasty although the barbs eventually died down.

Having less than a year earlier been thrust into Test cricket, Bancroft made his comeback to local Perth cricket in front of a crowd of just 19 people. Only three reporters attended that 50-over match in a far cry of the media circus that followed fellow culprits Warner and Steve Smith’s every move.

Bancroft even made an effort to shake hands and introduce himself to each of the journalists at his press conference. Those close to him vouch that’s the real Bancroft – respectful and mild-mannered but curious.

It has all led to a bumper season from Bancroft but, ultimately, there is no recall into the Australian team. It’s a slap in the face for Bancroft and others assured by selectors that if they perform at the lower levels then the rest will take care of itself.

Bancroft has not put a foot wrong although it is worth noting his early struggles in the English County season albeit from just two matches. One wonders if there are other factors at play with Bancroft perhaps haunted by public missteps in the years following the ugly ball-tampering scandal in 2018.

Notably he probably wishes he could take back an interview with The Guardian in 2021 when he reopened old wounds and suggested that bowlers in the team on that sorry day in Newlands might been aware of the ball’s tampering – an accusation that Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon have always denied.

In the aftermath of Bancroft’s revelation, the bowlers labelled the claims as “rumours and innuendo”. There has been whispers ever since over whether Bancroft had self-sabotaged his international chances.

Who knows, but Bancroft is still waiting to resume his stalled Test career after missing out on Australia’s touring party.

Australia’s hierarchy is clearly not willing to make a call on Warner’s future just yet. The pugnacious opener, who was at the centre of the sandpaper scandal but his on-field brilliance saw him recalled immediately, will not stand aside willingly.

It appears that selectors are hoping Warner comes good against India to all but guarantee his spot for the Ashes. But Warner has struggled for some time and it’s hard to see the 36-year-old, looking particularly sluggish at his favored Indian Premier League, being able to rewind the clock consistently.

Warner should have been dispensed with but his selection meant only two of fringe openers Bancroft, Harris and Renshaw could be picked.

It loomed as a tough call although perhaps Bancroft was always coming from a long way back to win a recall.