Bancroft set for crack at the top in Aussie A audition

by Admin
October 30, 2024

West Australian Cam Bancroft is expected to be given pole position at the top of the order as he auditions for a spot in the Test team in Australia A’s clash with India A from Thursday.

The West Australian understands Bancroft is set to open in the first of two four-day matches in McKay, despite four different batters in contention to open the batting against India next month.

Fellow veteran Marcus Harris is most likely to bat with him, while Sam Konstas and Nathan McSweeney will likely take up the next two spots.

Bancroft is facing the biggest week of his five-year bid to return to the Test team for the first time since a brief stint in 2019.

The match in Far North Queensland has been widely touted as a bat-off between the four, with the race for the vacant spot at the top of the order still wide open, just two weeks out from a squad being named.

McSweeney, who will captain the side, is the only one of the four that is not a career opener. But he declared on Wednesday he is up to opening the batting against Jasprit Bumrah and India’s pace attack.

The 25-year-old bats at No.3 for South Australia and believes the preparation for that role is much the same.

“I am playing probably the best cricket I have. Batting three for South Australia and probably my whole career, I feel like you could be in there the first over of the game, all my prep is against the new ball,” McSweeney said in Queensland on Wednesday.

“I feel like my game is ready and hopefully I get an opportunity. If not, I’ll keep trying to get better and what will be will be.”

Despite being captain of the side for a second straight summer, McSweeney said he has handed over the batting order for the selectors to settle on.

“I think selectors will have that (sorted) for me. I am quite clear on where I’m batting for this game. It’s a great honour to play for Australia A and I’m happy to bat wherever,” he said.

“Hopefully I can take my opportunity batting where I do. I am not sure what is happening in the next game either, so the selectors will pick that.”

There is a groundswell of support for Bancroft in Western Australia after two years at the top of the domestic game.

In an exclusive interview with The West Australian, close friend Corey Rocchiccioli described the opener as “the first one in and the last one out” in the State program.

“It’s well noted how hard he works. He is the first one in the last one out. When I first got into the system, he sort of showed me how hard you have to work, and in that period of time, that was sort of the time he sort of missed out the year before and got dropped from the West Australian setup.

“That winter and the COVID era, he really just taught me how much playing for West Australian cricket means and the amount of work you have to put in.”

Cameron Bancroft of Western Australia. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

In an exclusive column on Tuesday, former Test coach and legendary opener Justin Langer, said opening was a specialist position and that Bancroft should be the man for the job if he makes runs for Australia A.

McSweeney was coy on the idea of the bat-off, which has been touted for weeks as debate rages over the opening spot and instead pointed to the side losing to New Zealand in Queensland last year.

But he did say he was embracing the talk around the vacant position and saw it as an honour to be in the mix.

“As a kid your dream is to play for Australia and get a baggy green and it’s a great opportunity no doubt,” he said.

“I think being talked about to play for your country is a great honour and I try and embrace that chat.”

Usman Khawaja, who had previously flagged middle-order gun Travis Head as his preferred opening partner, said he has no read on he will walk onto Optus Stadium with on November 22.

Khawaja has been named to play a Sheffield Shield game for Queensland against New South Wales in Sydney.

I have no idea what’s going on. Without sounding disrespectful, I’m not really sure if anyone has any idea, which is not a bad thing, it is actually a good thing, the fact that there a four people that could open the Test batting for Australia — five people, six people, whatever you want,” he said in a light-hearted interview on The Grade Cricketer podcast.

“It means Australian cricket is in a pretty healthy spot, it means there are guys scoring runs, it means you have got abundance of talent and skill that could come in and score runs and do well.

“I honestly have no idea what’s going to happen.”