Up the Order! Steve Smith named Australia’s new Test opener

Bailey was also categoric in denying that Bancroft’s non-selection, despite being the leading run-scorer in Shield cricket over the last two years, had been for anything other than cricketing reasons, in reference to his infamous interview in England in 2021 following the Sandpaper incident in 2018.

“I’m glad you asked that because I wanted to touch on it. It’s categorically no,” Bailey said. “And I’ve shared this with Cameron on a number of occasions.

That has never at any stage been discussed from the panel’s perspective. It’s purely a cricketing decision. There is not a member of the team that would have an issue with Cam playing. We certainly don’t have an issue with it.

“I think a lot of people tend to forget the fact that Cam’s actually played Test cricket since returning from the ban. It was a long time ago.

We’ve all moved well past that. I’d be disappointed if people were looking to that as a reason. All I can do is reiterate to you and to Cam that’s not the case. Never has been and never will be.” (ESPNcricinfo) 

Australia squad for first Test vs West Indies

Pat Cummins (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Renshaw, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc