Bancroft faces big call in first Test

At some moment after the eye-moistening receipt of his Baggy Green Cap, the throat-tightening chorus of national anthems and the heart-pumping fervor of a capacity Gabba crowd, Cameron Bancroft will arrive at the first major junction on his path as a Test cricketer.

Having swapped his cloth cap for a protective batting helmet, he will enter the playing arena through a flutter of Australia flags with new acquaintance and fellow opener David Warner who will have asked Bancroft if the debutant fancies facing the first ball of his country’s innings.

Despite his status as the vastly more senior partner – 123 times at bat in Test cricket alongside Bancroft’s zero – Warner will defer to his colleague’s wishes as to whether he wants to insert himself immediately into the action, or get a gauge of Ashes’ battle heat from the non-striker’s end.

Entering a union with a 10th opening partner since he made his own debut at the same Brisbane venue – albeit in a lower-key tussle against New Zealand – six years ago, Warner has tried to maintain the spice in these relationships by varying the protocols as to ‘who faces first’.

There exists no formal demarcation with the opening batters’ job description of how such a fundamental strategic ploy is enacted.

Australia’s most successful first-wicket pairing of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer operated for more than five years on the premise that Langer faced first because he liked to feel himself immediately “in the contest”.

The next-most productive duo Mark Taylor and Michael Slater were polar opposites in character and style, and would habitually alternate the responsibility from innings to innings although Slater often preferred to receive the opening delivery of a match.

As he did so memorably when he crashed Phil de Freitas’s loosener to the point boundary and effectively snuffed out England’s 1994-95 Ashes hopes less than a minute into the series.

With Chris Rogers, his most regular companion on journeys out to face the new ball in a marriage that survived 22 matches, Warner designated that the older, straight guy to his pyrotechnics show should take the heat at the outset.

Their bond was forged in the fire of Australia’s failed 2013 Ashes campaign in the UK when both had found their way back into the team after being discarded for wildly divergent reasons, and was galvanised in the southern summer that followed when they were pivotal in the 5-0 whitewash that returned the urn.

Before then, Warner had opened alongside Phillip Hughes and Ed Cowan (both of whom he would alternate first-ball duties with from innings to innings) and in one-off cameos with Glenn Maxwell and Shane Watson where the specialist opener naturally assumed the duty.

Since Rogers’ retirement in 2015, Warner has found himself paired with Joe Burns (who predominantly faced up first), Shaun Marsh (in two matches where they alternated), Usman Khawaja (once due to an injury reshuffle) and Matthew Renshaw.

Like Bancroft, Renshaw was a new arrival to Test cricket when he debuted against South Africa in Adelaide a year ago and was introduced to Warner’s new democratic routine whereby the junior member of the double act was often given the choice of facing or watching.

“I generally used to make Bucky (Rogers) face the first ball back in the day, but we usually change it from first innings to second innings,” Warner confirmed in Brisbane today.

“Or when we’re walking out there, one of us will say ‘I’ll take it’.

“I’ll ask him (Bancroft) if he wants to take the first ball of the series.

“If he wants, he can have it. If not, I’ll take it.”

Image Id: C5AF26C7A7E04762B1BCDA58A5C75A05 Image Caption: Cameron Bancroft has been in red-hot form ahead of his Test debut // Getty

Before Bancroft makes the call, which might be made under the glare of the Magellan Ashes Series first act depending on events at the coin toss, he might want to be apprised of the statistical data from Warner’s most recent stretch of 10 Tests with Renshaw as his new-ball colleague.

Across their 16 innings as openers, Renshaw opted to face the first delivery on nine occasions and returned an average of 55.63 per innings while Warner averaged 58.59 having begun as non-striker in Tests played in Australia, India and Bangladesh.

In the seven innings that Warner faced first, his average dipped to 36 while Renshaw’s recorded an even sharper drop averaging 19.7 per knock when he started at the bowler’s end.

Bancroft at least enjoys the knowledge that his new Test teammates recognise him, a comfort not afforded Renshaw last November when he arrived at his first team meeting after less than a dozen Sheffield Shield games for Queensland and with his Test skipper Steve Smith unsure who the new face in the room belonged to.

While they have scarcely had time to develop the depth of chemistry that underpinned the ties between Hayden and Langer, Taylor and Slater and even Rogers and Warner, Bancroft has been around domestic cricket and Australia squads long enough to have created an awareness.

If not a fully-fledged rapport with the Test vice-captain.

“I’ve played against him in a couple of (JLT Sheffield) Shield games and a couple of domestic games,” Bancroft said today of Warner.

“But until this week, when I’ve been able to train with him and socialise with him a bit, it’s probably the first time I’ve got to develop a bit of relationship with him.

“I’ve got to know him, he’s got to know me so that was definitely all part of the week.

“He’ll bring a lot of energy to the crease, he comes out and he backs himself.

“That’s a style of play that’s made him successful, but I’m probably not as flamboyant as the way he plays.

“But I know that if I stick to my process, stick to what’s got me here then I’m sure I give myself the best chance to do well.”

If Warner remains unsure of Bancroft’s mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, he certainly holds a clear picture of his batting game after the 25-year-old defied New South Wales’ Test-standard bowling attack at length in both innings of their recent match against Western Australia at Hurstville.

He is also aware that the hard-nosed, ultra-competitive right-hander is renowned for his unflappability in the face of most on-field challenges, although the unique environment presented by day one of an Ashes series is known to quicken even the most Olympian resting pulse rates.

“He looks like he knows his game fairly well and he looks pretty complete in the nets,” Warner said today at the Gabba of his 10th Test opening partner.

“I think he knows how to handle the Gabba, I think it’s more about the crowd and the occasion.

“First game he’ll be quite nervous – he doesn’t look like a nervous character but there’s always a sense of nerves when you walk out here and it’s an Ashes Test match and series.

“I think a lot of the guys will give him a bit of advice before he walks out.”

2017-18 International Fixtures:

Magellan Ashes Series

First Test Gabba, November 23-27. Buy tickets

Second Test Adelaide Oval, December 2-6 (Day-Night). Buy tickets

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Buy tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Buy tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Buy tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Buy tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Buy tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Buy tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Buy tickets

Fifth ODI Perth TBC, January 28. Join the ACF

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Buy tickets

Gillette T20 INTL Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Buy tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Buy tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Buy tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 13

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21