Cameron Bancroft has insisted there are no lingered issues with Australia’s bowlers who were part of the infamous Cape Town Test in 2018, which includes current captain Pat Cummins, and believes he owes it to the country to make a success of opening the batting.
Bancroft, the leading Sheffield Shield run-scorer in the last two years, is one of the names in the mix to come in at the top of the order for the West Indies series following David Warner’s retirement in Sydney.
Bancroft has played Test cricket since the ball-tampering scandal – two matches in the 2019 Ashes – but his comments in a 2021 interview that the bowlers must have known what was going on angered them to such a degree that they issued a joint statement denying any knowledge of the plans.
Although Cummins is not a selector he has had informal conversations about the vacancy and Bancroft is confident that enough time has elapsed that everyone has moved on and would be able to play together.
“It’s his cricket team, he’s the captain. No doubt he’s got his feelings and opinions and things like that,” Bancroft told reporters in Sydney ahead of facing his former BBL club Perth Scorchers. “Knowing Pat as well, he’s a professional too and I have no issues that he wouldn’t be very logical and professional around making that decision.
“I still run into those players plenty of times over the last couple of years. I’ve certainly felt nothing but business as usual with how you interact with people. What’s happened in the past has been and gone now. I know those guys feel the same.
“The Australian cricket team has moved forward, they’ve been really successful. I’ve also moved forward with my cricket and my career also, trying to work on my own game as a cricketer and to work on myself as a human being. They play their cricket in the same brand as well and I feel like it wouldn’t be an issue should I come into the environment.”
Like Warner and Steven Smith, Bancroft was soon back in the Test side after his ban elapsed but was dropped following two Tests of the 2019 series against England where he opened with Warner. He featured around squads again the following home summer before drifting down the pecking order, but his form over the last two years has made a compelling case for a recall.
“The past has been a great ground to learn things about myself,” he said. “I feel like I definitely owe it to my country to put those lessons into play. I’ve always tried to learn from the past and put that into place for the future and be better as a cricketer and as a person.
“We all make mistakes in the world and I’ve definitely done that in my playing career. It’s pretty obvious that’s been the case for me. One of the lessons I’ve probably learned over the time is to take control of your own actions and responsibilities.”
Having previously spoken about opening being a specialist position, he admitted he would be “disappointed” if the selectors went for someone who had not previously done the role. Steven Smith has made a big push to take on the job while Cameron Green is strongly in contention.
“Cricket means the world to me and I’ve put my heart and soul into developing my game as an opening batter,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s not my call and it’s not my decision. But I’ve tried to focus on doing well in that position and the selectors have always said to me that being a top order batter and playing really well in that position is the position they’ve seen me in. I’ve taken that advice on board and done the best I can to score as many runs in Shield cricket.”
The tempo that Warner batted at, and which he gave a final display of in the run chase against Pakistan, has become a key discussion point and Bancroft’s red-ball runs come at a markedly slower rate, but he doesn’t think that should be an issue.
“No doubt we play cricket in different ways, but as we’ve seen over the years, there’s more than one way to skin a cat,” he said. “There’s only one David Warner, only one Usman Khawaja. Everyone’s unique in how they play their cricket.”