Former Denby star Cameron Bancroft is banned for nine months

Cameron Bancroft has been banned for nine months in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal that has engulfed Australian cricket.
Cameron Bancroft in action for Denby.Cameron Bancroft in action for Denby.
Cameron Bancroft in action for Denby.

Bancroft was seen rubbing the ball with yellow tape during the Test defeat to South Africa and was subsequently sent home from the tour along with captain Steve Smith and vice captain David Warner. Smith and Warner have both received one-year bans from the sport from Cricket Australia.

The ban covers playing internationally for Australia but the players will be able to play domestic cricket in the country as well as abroad, although Smith and Warner have also been banned from competing in the Indian Premier League. All of the players will have the right to appeal their bans and their duration.

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Bancroft was a regular in Denby CC’s side back in 2013 when he first came to England to aid his development whilst also playing for Western Australia, whom he still represents.

He scored over 1,000 runs for Denby in his time there before returning home and impressing enough to make the Test team for last November’s Ashes series.

After the ball-tampering was exposed, he told a press conference: “I will deal with the damage that comes to my reputation as a consequence.

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“I don’t think I was coerced. I was nervous about it because there hundreds of cameras around.

“Unfortunately I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I am accountable for my actions as well. I’m not proud of what has happened.

“I saw an opportunity to potentially use some tape and get some granules from the rough patches on the wicket and I guess try to change the ball condition.

“It didn’t work. The umpires didn’t change the ball. Once I was sighted on the screen having done that I panicked quite a lot and that obviously resulted in me shoving (the tape) down my trousers.”