With Australian opener David Warner having already announced his intent to hang his boots on the red-ball format of the game, Australia will have a huge task to find the fitting replacement to open the innings for Australia in the absence of David Warner. David Warner will be playing his last Test match against Pakistan at SCG. With Warner retiring, Australia will be in search of finding a great replacement to partner with Usman Khawaja in the opening department. However, Australian legend Ricky Ponting believes that Cameron Bancroft should be David Warner’s replacement. Bancroft is the top-scorer in the domestic Sheffield Shield competition with his 945 runs. However, Bancroft had been overlooked for Marcus Harris in Australia’s Ashes squad. Marcus Harris and Matt Renshaw are the two other top contenders to take the opening spot. 

“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. If you wind the clock back about six months it might have been a slightly different order than what it is now,”  Ponting told SEN.

“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 also believes that Glenn Maxwell should also be considered for the Test format after his heroics at the ODI World Cup 2023 where he made a massive impact with the bat. It was the World Cup where Maxwell played a heroic innings of double hundred against Afghanistan to create history. 

“I could see him getting back into a Test line-up because of the all round game that he brings in those conditions. The [201] not out in that game against Afghanistan, which is the most remarkable one-day innings I’ve ever seen. I’ve been around a lot of games, watched a lot of games, played a lot of games, I’ve never ever seen anything like that.”