Australian cricketing legend Ricky Ponting has named his replacement for outgoing opening batsman David Warner, calling on WA batter Cameron Bancroft to fill the role.
Warner has announced he will retire from Test cricket at the end of the Australian summer, meaning Pat Cummins and his men will require a strong presence at the top of the order.
Despite not making his mark during WA’s Sheffield Shield match against Queensland on Thursday (out for seven off 30 balls), the 31-year-old is still the Shield’s top run-scorer this season.
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He has already notched up 512 runs at 56.88, headlined by two centuries and three fifties.
Ponting says the amount of runs Bancroft has scored alone should be the reason he gets the call up over Victorian Marcus Harris and Queenslander Matt Renshaw.
“If you look at those three guys, I think it’s quite clear that Bancroft is the one that’s got the runs on the board and I wouldn’t be surprised if they (selectors) go that way,” Ponting told SEN on Thursday.
“If you wind the clock back about six months it might have been a slightly different order than what it is now.
“I think they probably had Harris as the one that would come back in a while ago.
“To me now it sort of feels (there’s) a bit more of a groundswell behind Cameron Bancroft getting first crack.”
Ponting’s bold call comes just days after Australian cricket coach Andrew McDonald remained tight-lipped on veteran opener David Warner’s spot for the upcoming Test series against Pakistan, before hinting at a shock batting shake-up.
Despite remaining cryptic, McDonald suggested Cameron Green, who has batted at No.4 previously for WA in Sheffield Shield, could make a big jump up the order if selected.
“What does Cam Green’s future look like in the Test team? Is it a matter of waiting for Mitch to finish or could there be another spot that opens up over time?” McDonald said on SEN on Tuesday.
“He has batted at six for most of his Test cricket, but he has been a fantastic No.4 for WA and averages close to 50 in Shield cricket.”
McDonald suggested he would create a batting lineup based on recent form, not on who was in the side last year.
“There is always the idea that you can potentially shift the order to make room to put your best six batters, or what you see as best six batters, in a certain order, and we have seen that in Australian cricket before,” McDonald said.