Crash: The questions lingering over Cameron Bancroft’s Test return

Test selectors don’t owe Cameron Bancroft anything. Just ask Brad Hodge or David Hussey. Besides, ROBERT CRADDOCK asks, are there questions lingering in the Australian change room over his potential return?

Cameron Bancroft may be the people’s choice to replace David Warner but the national selectors will have to ask themselves two key questions before they seriously consider him.

Are they convinced – and they never were in the past – that he has a technique capable of keeping out extra good balls?

And do they feel that recalling him would ignite any residual awkwardness with his teammates over sandpapergate?

There is a feeling in Western Australia Bancroft has been appallingly treated by the national selectors given his imposing Sheffield Shield form but this is not the case.

He was given 10 Tests and averaged 26. They don’t owe him anything.

If you think he is the heartbreak kid best not mention it to Brad Hodge who was dropped after six Tests with an average of 55 or David Hussey who averaged 52 in first class cricket with a strike rate of 70 but never got a solitary five-dayer.

During Bancroft’s first life as a Test player the selectors noted that of his 17 dismissals, five were lbw and three bowled.

Cameron Bancroft batting for Western Australia during the Sheffield Shield in November. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images.

Crafty swing-seam bowlers like Vernon Philander, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes felt the ball angled into him could find space or an unguarded pad.

Bancroft’s supporters say he has tightened his game and is a better player than he was.

No matter what the state of his game it probably won’t not matter if Bancroft is recalled against the West Indies for two Tests in January such is the modest state of the Windies attack.

In that series every Australian batting child should win a prize.

But that’s not the central issue.

All of Australia’s planning must be done with a focus on next summer’s mega-important five Test series against India where Australia’s opener face the crafty opening pair of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.

These two are several classes above the sort of bowlers Bancroft has been dominating in Sheffield Shield cricket.

India are skilful and plan well. If there is a lingering technical foible, they will find it.

If Bancroft is chosen then it will be an extraordinary coincidence that, five years after sandpapergate, the man who used the sandpaper in Cape Town has been chosen to replace the man who allegedly hatched the plot.

Bancroft’s role in sandpapergate is not an issue.

The sticking point came in 2021 when he gave an interview in Durham to The Guardian’s Donald McRae when he hinted the bowlers knowledge of the use of sandpaper was “self-explanatory.’’

It prompted the bowlers the release a joint statement saying they were “disappointed own integrity has been questioned.’’

Have the wounds healed? We shall see.