Cameron Bancroft cleared to play WA grade cricket after landmark hearing

SIXTEEN Western Australian grade cricket clubs have voted to allow the man at the centre of the ball-tampering scandal, Cameron Bancroft, to play for his junior club Willetton.

Cameron Bancroft has been cleared to play for his junior club.

BANNED opener Cameron Bancroft will be allowed to play for his club cricket side this year after the WA Premier Cricket league voted in favour of bending the rules.

Bancroft is serving a nine-month suspension from Cricket Australia for his role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

That CA ban ends in late December, at which point Bancroft will be free to play for WA and Australia again.

Cameron Bancroft has been cleared to play for his junior club.

But under WA Premier Cricket rules, any CA ban automatically extended to WA club ranks, meaning Bancroft wasn’t allowed to play for his local club Willetton while serving his CA suspension.

The situation is different on the other side of the country, where fellow banned Test players David Warner and Steve Smith are free to play club cricket in NSW while serving their 12-month CA suspensions.

Cameron Bancroft has been cleared to play club cricket in Perth this summer after tonight’s vote to change rules stopping banned players doing so.

— Peter Lalor (@plalor) May 14, 2018

The 16 WACA clubs held an extraordinary meeting on Monday night to vote on whether to grant Bancroft special permission to play for Willetton while he served his CA ban.

Bancroft only needed a simple majority to be given the green light, and the clubs voted in favour.

WACA chief executive Christina Matthews said she wasn’t allowed to reveal the exact vote, but said it was a strong majority.

Originally published as Cameron Bancroft cleared to play WA grade cricket after landmark hearing