Cameron Timothy Bancroft (born 19 November 1992) is an Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er contracted to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in Australian first class cricket, Durham in English first class cricket, and the Perth Scorchers in the

Big Bash League The Big Bash League (known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, often abbreviated to BBL or Big Bash) is an Australian professional club Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash Le ...

. He made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut for the Australian national team in November 2017. As a result of a Cricket Australia investigation into a ball tampering incident during the 3rd Test against South Africa in March 2018, Bancroft and two others, captain Steve Smith and vice-captain

David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to: Sports * Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor * David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier * David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer Oth ...

, were charged by Cricket Australia on 27 March 2018 with bringing the game into disrepute, suspended, and sent home from the tour. The next day, as a result of his involvement in the ball tampering incident, Cricket Australia banned Bancroft from all international and domestic cricket for nine months and was banned from any leadership role in Australian cricket for an additional year. Bancroft made his return to cricket on 30 December 2018, playing for the Perth Scorchers in the

2018–19 Big Bash League season The 2018–19 Big Bash League season or BBL, 08 was the eighth season of the KFC Big Bash League, the professional men's Twenty20 domestic cricket competition in Australia. The tournament started on 19 December 2018. Adelaide Strikers were the ...

. Bancroft scored 138

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

on his Sheffield Shield return as well.

Youth and domestic career

After playing under-17, under-19 and under-23 cricket for

, Bancroft played several under-19 Tests and One Day Internationals for the Australia Under-19 cricket team, impressing after scoring three centuries, at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 50.90. In August 2012, Bancroft played in the

2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was a one-day cricket competition for sixteen international U-19 cricketing teams which was held in August 2012. This was the ninth time that the tournament was held since its inception back in 1988. The ...

, where he scored the second highest number of runs. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

debut for Western Australia against

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

on 16 October 2011 and his first-class debut a week later.

International career

Bancroft was selected in the Australian

squad to tour

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

; however, that tour was cancelled for security reasons. Bancroft and the rest of the team returned to their states. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

debut for Australia against India on 31 January 2016. In November 2017, he was named in Australia's Test squad for the

2017–18 Ashes series The 2017–18 Ashes series (named Magellan Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons) was a series of Test cricket matches contested between England and Australia for The Ashes. The series was played at five venues across Australia between 23 Novembe ...

. He replaced Matt Renshaw as an opening batsman and became the first Australian opener to make his debut in an Ashes Test since Michael Slater in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. Bancroft had his

baggy green cap The baggy green is a cricket cap of dark myrtle green colour, which has been worn by Australian Test cricketers since around the turn of the twentieth century. The cap was not originally baggy as evidenced by photographs of early players. The ...

presented to him by

Geoff Marsh Geoffrey Robert Marsh (born 31 December 1958) is a former Australian cricketer, coach and selector. He played 50 Test matches and 117 One Day Internationals for Australia as an opening batsman. As the coach of Australia he was in charge whe ...

. In his first Test innings, he scored 5 and 82

to help give Australia a 10 wicket victory against England. He played in all five Tests in that series.

Ball-tampering incident and suspension

Bancroft was selected for the 2018 tour of South Africa and played in the first three Tests. In March 2018, Bancroft admitted to

ball tampering In the sport of cricket, ball tampering is an action in which a fielder illegally alters the condition of the ball. The primary motivation of ball tampering is to interfere with the aerodynamics of the ball to aid swing bowling. Definition Unde ...

against South Africa in the third Test match held in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. During the match, television footage showed Bancroft rubbing the ball with sandpaper. On discovering that footage of the incident had been broadcast, Bancroft put the sandpaper down the front of his trousers before being spoken to by the on-field umpires. At a later press conference captain Steve Smith admitted that the plan to tamper with the ball was concocted by the team "leadership group." The ICC later imposed a one match ban on Steve Smith and handed over 3 demerit points to Cameron Bancroft after the alleged ball tampering controversy. Cricket Australia then imposed further sanctions against Bancroft, Smith and

, meaning they would not take part in the fourth Test. Cricket Australia launched a separate investigation into the incident as a matter of urgency. Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland announced that as a result of the preliminary investigation into the incident Smith, Warner and Bancroft had been charged with bringing the game into disrepute, suspended and sent home. David Warner was later found to be responsible for the development of the plan to tamper with the ball and instructing Bancroft on how to do it. Bancroft was found to have carried out those instructions, tried to conceal evidence and mislead match officials by denying knowledge of the tampering. As a result, Bancroft received a 9-month ban from international and domestic cricket in Australia and was banned from any leadership role for 1 year after the initial ban was completed.

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Somerset. Founded in 1875, Somerset was initially regarded as a minor ...

announced that Bancroft would not be joining the county as their overseas player for the 2018 season as previously planned.

Return to Cricket

Bancroft made a return to professional cricket on 30 December 2018, playing for the Perth Scorchers in the

. In the match he scored 2 runs from three balls, with the

Hobart Hurricanes The Hobart Hurricanes are an Australian professional men's T20 franchise cricket team based in Tasmania, Australia. They compete in Australia's domestic T20 cricket competition known as the Big Bash League, which is a league where many in ...

going on to win the game by 6 wickets. Although he only scored 2 runs in his first game back for the Perth Scorchers, he went on to make 296 runs in 10 games in the season, including a Career Best knock of 87* against the Sydney Sixers, in which he was awarded man of the match. In February 2019 Bancroft returned to first-class cricket, playing for Western Australia against

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in the 2018–19 Sheffield Shield. He made an unbeaten 138 in the first innings and 86 in the second. Bancroft faced a total of 621 balls in the match, falling 28 balls short of former Australian Captain Steve Waugh's record of most balls faced in a Shield match. Later in the year he was appointed as captain of Durham County Cricket Club in England for the 2019 season. While the move to make him captain was criticised by some members of the public, it was supported by Durham director of cricket Marcus North and former Australian Captain and Teammate Steve Smith. In his one-day debut for Durham, Bancroft scored 150 not out off 130 balls against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

2019 Ashes series

In July 2019, he was named in Australia's squad for the

2019 Ashes series The 2019 Ashes series (officially the Specsavers Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons) was a series of Test cricket matches played between England and Australia for The Ashes in August and September 2019. The venues were Edgbaston, Lord's, Hea ...

in England. He made his international return in the first test at Edgbaston at the beginning of August. He played the first two Tests, but after scores of 8, 7, 13 and 16, was dropped for the third Test.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bancroft, Cameron 1992 births Living people Australian cricketers Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australia Test cricketers Australia Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers from Perth, Western Australia Western Australia cricketers Perth Scorchers cricketers Sportsmen from Western Australia Gloucestershire cricketers Durham cricketers