Cameron Bancroft has carried his bat for an unbeaten century against New South Wales in his first-class cricket return after a nine-month ban for his part in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.
Bancroft scored 138 in a marathon 358-ball innings to almost single-handedly keep Western Australia's innings together at Bankstown Oval in Sydney after the visitors were dismissed for 279 just before lunch Sunday on the second day of the Sheffield Shield match.
After batting through two elongated sessions on a rain-affected day one, Bancroft moved from his overnight 73 to bring up his 12th first-class century.
Bancroft returned to Twenty20 cricket in late December after his suspension. Two others involved in the Cape Town incident last March during the third Australia-South Africa test match — former captain Steve Smith and opener David Warner — will return from their year-long bans at the end of next month.
