Cameron Bancroft snub a symptom of good selection policy by Cricket Australia

Good sense prevails as as the better of the Western Camerons was recalled to the Australian Test XI.

In an attempt to not merely rehash my previous thread, there are a few points that I feel need to be cleared up, largely around Renshaw, but also around an older point that I never, at least to now, put a name to.

I have at many times on here been accused of 'having favourites', or 'being a shill' (which is a bizarre claim around selection policy). The most notable being Mitch Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne and Matt Renshaw. I've written many a wall of text in defense of all three, but with Renshaw remaining in the squad ahead of Bancroft, I think there's a few points to note here.

Let's start with the obvious, form. Below are Renshaw and Bancroft's form going back to the start of the 2023/24, 22/23, 21/22 and 20/21 seasons in FC (ie, form this season, then stretching back to the last 3 completed seasons):

##Renshaw

Season	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
23-24	7	12	484	44.00	2	2
22-23	18	30	1317	52.68	6	5
21-22	38	64	2497	43.05	9	7
20-21	46	74	2997	45.41	11	7

##Bancroft

Season	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
23-24	9	14	649	46.36	2	4
22-23	24	41	1731	46.78	6	5
21-22	32	56	2233	43.78	8	5
20-21	45	78	3094	42.97	11	8

Honestly, I don't think there's that big a difference there on raw figures, though Renshaw is better. What I think is Bancroft's biggest issue, though, is his team by team results:

##Renshaw

Team	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
Test	14	24	645	29.32	1	3
QLD	65	116	3890	36.36	11	11
Aus A, etc	11	19	959	56.41	4	3
County	17	30	1251	44.68	5	2

##Bancroft

Team	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
Test	10	18	446	26.24	0	3
WA	90	162	6294	41.41	21	19
Aus A, etc	12	21	786	46.24	1	4
County	34	62	1923	34.34	3	8

I think a few people overstate Bancroft not doing well enough for Australia A; he has done it in the past, and his record across Aus A, touring sides and PMXIs have been solid. The thing with Renshaw, however, is he has tended to do much better in those opportunities. Bancroft, obviously, has the better of the Shield records, which you'd expect from the older player. It's quite common for the younger player to have a worse looking overall Shield record until their younger days wash out. You will see later on the more recent form he and Bancroft are pretty much lineball on domestic FC returns outside tests.

There's another subtle point with Renshaw, who had a decent looking Test record before his most recent stint in India which... didn't go so well for him.

Ultimately though, between these two, it's easy to see why the selectors would have gone for the younger, better, batsman as the next in, as opposed to Bancroft. No conspiracy is needed to explain why Bancroft didn't get the opportunity to warm the pine behind the best 6 batters in the country right now.

There's a broader point though, as alluded to, that I wish to touch on: the North effect. There has always existed a class of batter in the Shield that looks great at domestic level, but never makes their way into the test side. I name this, of course, after spin bowling Legend Marcus North. Cameron Bancroft is just the latest in this group. A wall of text could be put here, but given the response to the last post, I think this table should suffice. Consider the home season FC records of Australia's top 6 from the Sydney test in the last 3.5 seasons, plus Bancroft, Renshaw and Green:

Non-Test	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
Warner	1	2	93	46.50	0	1
Khawaja	23	35	1552	50.06	6	7
Labuschagne	19	28	1510	58.08	7	3
Smith	1	2	20	10.00	0	0
Head	17	32	1460	50.34	5	5
Marsh	3	5	247	82.33	1	1
Bancroft	36	63	2774	47.83	11	8
Renshaw	31	49	1967	46.83	7	5
Green	17	27	1553	67.52	5	6

I think people forget just how good the test squad are at some points, as they're not consistently in the shield, as amply highlighted by Smith, Warner and Mitch Marsh. Those that have a few games under their belt in this time, Labuschagne, Khawaja and Head are all performing as you'd expect at this level, better than supposedly 'best in the Shield' Bancroft. There are loads of players that have a good shield season, average in the 50s, but can never find the consistency to maintain this, or make anything happen at test level. That's no slight on them either, it's a big step up. This does explain the North effect though. When the test side rarely play even part seasons in the Shield, their quality relative to those there is forgotten, and as someone will always stand out at this level, there will always be players people are declaring hard done, despite them likely never actually being good enough in the first place.

Ultimately, the selectors have made the best choice they can on the data available, there's no conspiracy against Cameron Bancroft. While Bancroft is considered by many as the 'form player' in Australia he and Renshaw have both performed similarly over the mid-term, but below the level of our best and selected 6, with Renshaw showing more elsewhere. Bancroft's snub, far from showing a 'cartel' mentality, is merely a symptom of good selection policy.