Cartwright backs selectors over axing

One-Test allrounder Hilton Cartwright has strongly backed the decision to not select him for Australia's Qantas Tour of India, despite being the Test side's incumbent number six when the squad was announced in January.

Cartwright was surprisingly elevated into Australia's XI for the third Test against Pakistan in Sydney and was far from disgraced on debut, scoring 37 with the bat and bowling just four overs as the home side cruised to a 220-run victory.

But just a week later, the Western Australian was overlooked altogether in Australia's 16-man squad for the four-Test series in India, with allrounders Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Agar chosen ahead of him.

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Despite being the second-highest run-scorer in the Sheffield Shield this season, Cartwright was passed over again just a week ago when Victorian Marcus Stoinis was called in to replace the injured Marsh for the final two matches of the series.

However, Cartwright quickly came to terms with his axing and has even strongly backed the decision of national selectors, which he says was the right one given his inexperience on the subcontinent.

"I would have thought I would have been a surprise selection, purely based on the fact that I've had no experience in India,” Cartwright told cricket.com.au having finished a watershed season that also saw him earn a call-up to Australia's one-day international squad.

"For a national selection panel looking at that, you've got two guys and one has had experience in India and one guy hasn't. You can't really blame them for picking the guy who has had exposure over there.

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"If you ever miss out on a tour, you're always going to be disappointed. But I've spoken to a lot of people about it ... and playing a Test match in Australia and playing one in India is vastly different.

"So to not get the call to go to India, I don't feel hard done by or anything like that.

"I've played about three Twenty20s in India (in the now defunct T20 Champions League) and that's about the only experience I've got over there.

"I think if you go through the whole Test line-up, bar a few players, they've all had some form of experience in Indian conditions.

"So I can completely understand not being picked and I'm happy with that.”

Having responded to his axing with two centuries and a score of 94 in the final five matches of the Shield season, the right-hander says he's looking forward to some time away from the game over the winter months.

And he added he's keen to get a taste of subcontinental cricket sometime in the near future in order to push his name forward for higher honours again.

"I'm content with (not being picked) and hopefully one day my chance will come," Cartwright said.

"Hopefully the next time when the chance comes around to go on a Australia A tour of even some kind of academy trip, to spend a few weeks in Indian conditions, I can hopefully soak that up and do really well for the next tour of the subcontinent."