Sandpaper saga in the past as Bancroft eyes Test return

Cameron Bancroft is confident his sins of the past won’t count against him as he attempts to reignite his Test career this summer.

Bancroft was the standout player of the Sheffield Shield season last summer, plundering a competition-high 945 runs at an average of 59.

Cameron Bancroft.Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

It was 289 runs more than his closest rival.

Despite that stunning form, Bancroft was surprisingly overlooked for the Ashes, leaving many to wonder what else the 30-year-old could have done to win a spot in the side.

Bancroft’s name will forever be linked to the 2018 sandpaper scandal in South Africa, in which he copped a nine-month ban for his involvement.

But he doesn’t think it will be held against him when selectors ponder how to replace the retiring David Warner this summer.

“I think I’ve paid my dues,” Bancroft told reporters on Friday.

“Like all of us, we’ve all made mistakes and things like that. That was a long time ago now.

“I’m a proud Aussie, and I’d be honoured to represent my country again at some stage.

“But right now I’m playing for WA and that’s where I want to keep my focus.”

Warner will retire following the third Test against Pakistan in January, with Bancroft to battle the likes of Marcus Harris and Matthew Renshaw to partner Usman Khawaja at the top of the order.

Bancroft has played 10 Test matches, two of which came after serving his ban for ball tampering.

He started the current Shield campaign in hot fashion, scoring 122 as WA crushed Victoria by an innings and 53 runs.

Bancroft will be back in action when WA take on Tasmania in a Shield match at the WACA, starting Sunday.

The match will mark the Shield returns of star WA duo Lance Morris and Hilton Cartwright.

Cartwright underwent surgery to repair a meniscus tear during the off-season, while Morris had his Ashes hopes ruined by a stress-related back injury.

Strike bowlers Jhye Richardson (hamstring surgery) and Joel Paris (hamstring) will also return to red-ball duties after being selected in WA’s Second XI squad to face South Australia in Adelaide, starting Monday.

Bancroft’s purple patch over the past year is in stark contrast to 2019/20, when he was continually brought undone by leg slip or leg gully during a Shield campaign that yielded just 158 runs at an average of 13.16.

“That was a bizarre little period of time, that little leg gully situation,” Bancroft said.

“I think that period of time in my career, it was an experience I had to live through and struggle a little bit.

“But I certainly feel like those experiences strengthen your resolve and who you are as a cricketer.”

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