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Cameron Bancroft has bolted into Test contention with a stunning performance in the freshly renewed Sheffield Shield.
Bancroft (138 not out and 86), as well as Test batsmen Marcus Harris (95 and 174), Joe Burns (60 and 80) and Kurtis Patterson (134) had fantastic matches.
Australia already had a logjam of openers, with Harris and Burns the incumbents, star David Warner about to return after his ban, and young gun Matt Renshaw waiting in the wings.
Now Bancroft has added to this puzzle by producing one of the finest Shield batting performances of the past decade.
In his return to first-class cricket after being banned for nine months, the 26-year-old incredibly was at the crease for the full duration of both of Western Australia’s innings.
In the process, he faced an astonishing 621 balls for the match – one of only a handful of batsmen in history to soak up more than 600 balls in a Shield game.
The extraordinary mental and physical stamina he displayed is particularly relevant considering the great value that Justin Langer places on batting for long periods.
All too often in recent years, Australia’s batting line-up has been exposed for its inability to grind down opposition bowling units with patient, obdurate play. Veteran Chris Rogers was the last to have specialised in such stubborn batting. Bancroft is cut from the same cloth.
Chris Rogers (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
It may be no coincidence that Warner took his Test game to a new level while being partnered by Rogers. The dynamic left-hander seems suited to opening with an old-school batsman who frustrates bowlers with his circumspection. In this way, Bancroft long looked like a good foil for Warner.
The West Australian was just finding his feet at Test level when he was caught sandpapering a ball in South Africa last March. With 223 runs at 37, Bancroft was Australia’s leading runscorer in the first three Tests.
On some lively pitches against the world’s best attack, he did a fine job of blunting the new ball, batting for at least 90 minutes in five out of six innings.
This was an enormous improvement on his poor debut series, in the Ashes.
Then came the ball-tampering scandal, which may have derailed Bancroft’s international career. Instead, he has again showcased what a mentally tough cricketer he is by returning in such dominant fashion.
While this single performance does not mean he should suddenly leapfrog Burns and Harris, it has certainly put both those players on notice.
I considered Bancroft unlikely to compete strongly for an Ashes spot given the fierce competition, as well as the potential hindrance of his long layoff, yet here we are.
Jackson Bird is another cricketer who I thought had fallen back to the pack. In the last six months, he has been overlooked for Test squads in favour of the likes of Jhye Richardson, Chris Tremain, Peter Siddle, Michael Neser and even Brendan Doggett.
But in hoarding 11 wickets on a pretty flat Adelaide pitch, on which Tasmania piled up 467 in their first dig, Bird has served a reminder that he remains a quality red-ball bowler.