The real reason Bancroft was snubbed is he’s just not good enough

If the conspiracy theorist was looking for someone to point the finger at, it would have been Warner. He would often sit quietly at the front of the bus, taking the opportunity to talk to his family.

When there were groups of players having a drink at the bar, Warner would often be with the coaches and support staff. If he was at the bar, he was probably drinking tea. But then Warner has always been his own man.

Bancroft had a lean return after he was recalled to the Test squad in 2019.Credit: PA

Like Smith and Warner, Bancroft was chosen in the first two Tests of the 2019 Ashes series. After scoring 8, 7, 13 and 16, he was dropped by coach, selector and his former state coach Justin Langer, who has been one of his greatest supporters. That decision was only ever about performance.

Bancroft was replaced by Marcus Harris, who scored 8, 19, 13, 6, 3 and 9. They are now both 31, have played 10 and 14 Tests respectively, average in the mid-20s and have failed to score a century between them. Is it any surprise that neither of them are in the Test squad? They are unlikely to play for Australia again.

There are any number of players who have been tried at Test level and failed. They should be proud they earned the chance to wear the baggy green cap in the past. It is a feat achieved by very few.

Bancroft and Harris are not hard-luck stories. Brad Hodge is a hard-luck story. He played six Tests, scoring 503 runs at an average of 56, with a top score of 203 not out and two half-centuries before he was dropped.

Mike Whitney was a hard-luck story. Not Cameron Bancroft.Credit: Getty

Mike Whitney is a hard-luck story. Recalled for the last Test of the 1988-89 season against the rampant West Indies, Whitney claimed 7-89 in the second innings on a flat Adelaide pitch, yet despite being the equal most successful fast bowler in the Sheffield Shield that summer with NSW teammate Geoff Lawson, he was overlooked for the 1989 Ashes tour.

Bancroft has dominated the Sheffield Shield, but as chairman of selectors George Bailey said on Wednesday, there are figures and there are figures.

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If you add together all first-class cricket over the past 18 months – including county cricket and Australia A – Matthew Renshaw’s figures are better. He is also four years younger than Bancroft or Harris and has a better technique and better Test opening figures than both.

If Renshaw cannot reboot his Test career, he will go the way of so many others as another footnote of Australian cricket. Remember Kurtis Patterson, who scored a century in the last of his two Tests, has an average of 144, and lost his place in the 2019 Ashes squad to Bancroft?

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