Australia have taken a risk in releasing Cameron Bancroft, their concussion substitute, for their day-night Test in Adelaide against Pakistan.

Tim Paine chose to bat with an unchanged side in the second Test starting Friday, 29 November. Michael Neser is their 12th man, with Australia announcing that they had released Cameron Bancroft to play domestic cricket – which means there will be no batting substitute should the need arise.

Bancroft will play for Western Australia in Perth. The team said he would make the journey back if required.

Bangladesh continued to struggle against the short ball, receiving more blows to the helmet, after using two concussion substitutes on the first day.

More needs to be done to ensure the safety of batsmen, writes @ojerson8.#INDvBANhttps://t.co/soPnTp7pbA

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) November 24, 2019

“We’ll just get someone out the crowd,” Paine joked, before adding. “Bangers [Bancroft] is a couple of hours away on a plane so if anything does happen, we will be able to get him back pretty quickly.”

Cricket’s handling of concussion has come in for criticism in recent times, despite the new rules allowing for substitutions. There are questions particularly about players choosing to continue batting when symptoms are not immediately evident, and the teams having no uniform process in place to ensure maximum safety.

In the last pink ball Test, in Kolkata last week, Bangladesh were forced to use two concussion substitutes.

Although Pakistan may not have in their midst a Jofra Archer, who struck Steve Smith and forced a substitution during the Ashes, they have a formidable pace attack, including debutant Musa Khan.