As he settles into a new season at Durham, the Australian batsman reflects on how his nine-month suspension for using sandpaper on the ball during a Test match changed his views on life and cricket
Cameron Bancroft is out of quarantine and, after being “brutally cold” on his arrival in Durham last week, the Australian batsman is beginning to thaw out and open up to another season of English county cricket. “I wouldn’t say the mornings have been red-hot,” he says dryly at Durham’s serene Riverside ground, “but they’re significantly warmer than when I got here and the wind was coming in from the Arctic.”
His five-day period in quarantine was also a minor inconvenience compared to the nine-month ban he endured from cricket after his role in the ball-tampering saga against South Africa in March 2018.
