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Shock Ashes call-up for Cameron Bancroft is no surprise for folk at his old cricket club in Denby, Derbyshire

Surprise call-up: Australian Cricket player Cameron Bancroft - Getty Images AsiaPac
Surprise call-up: Australian Cricket player Cameron Bancroft - Getty Images AsiaPac

Cameron Bancroft did not so much creep under the radar into Australia’s Ashes squad as make an exquisitely timed bolt from left-field.

Even the country’s own commentators seemed nonplussed, as author Gideon Haigh described this scrupulous young batsman’s record as “patchy”.

Usually, you know where you stand with Australia’s openers on the first Brisbane morning of an Ashes series. Take Mark Taylor and Michael Slater in 1998, or Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden in 2006 – hardy perennials, all of them.

But the name of Bancroft, a 25-year-old talent versatile enough to perform at two, six or seven in the batting order, tends to elicit little more than mute puzzlement.

Curiously enough, it is in the Derbyshire village of Denby where recognition for Bancroft is at its greatest. He made a deep impression here when he arrived in 2013, scoring over 1,000 runs for the club, before Cricket Australia saw fit to recall him.

The Hunting Tower on the Chatsworth Estate - Credit: PA
The cauldron of the Gabba will be a big contrast to peaceful Derbyshire: The Hunting Tower on the Chatsworth Estate Credit: PA

Denby chairman Dave Cherry, who helped to put a roof over his head and to assuage any initial homesickness, saw at first hand the understated work ethic that has culminated in a most unlikely call-up.

“I’m not surprised by the selection,” Cherry says. “While Cameron was with us, he was very dedicated, very focused on what he wanted. There was little doubt that, if left up to him, he would make it. He was very genuine, very honest with himself. He was here to work, that’s how he saw it. Besides one brief sticky patch, he settled into a routine, even ordering Chinese takeaway on a Friday night.”

Unflashy is how most would describe Bancroft’s technique at the crease. 

Growing up in Attadale, an affluent riverside suburb of Perth, he kept a poster of Justin Langer on his bedroom wall, and it is not difficult to detect the parallels between their styles. Where Langer carved a reputation for pluck and tirelessness across his 105 Tests, Bancroft is also known as watchful to a fault, eschewing too many Twenty20-style heaves over the boundary – even if he is, conversely, a mainstay for his native Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League.

Justin Langer in Adelaide in 2004 - Credit: AFP/Getty
Mentor: Bancroft's childhood idol was the famously nuggety Justin Langer Credit: AFP/Getty

“He also kept wicket for us, but it was suggested to us that he should concentrate more on his batting,” Cherry explains. “He plays proper cricket – he’s not going to hit it out of the ground needlessly. His concentration levels are very high. As soon as he gets in, it could become quite tricky for England.”

Staff at Denby sent him some double-edged good wishes when they learned of his elevation to the baggy green. “Congratulations, Cam, hope you score a 100 and are still on the losing side,” the message read. Prolific scoring has, of late, become second nature to Bancroft, who has amassed over 70 in five of his last seven first-class innings, including an unbeaten 228 last week. On the strength of these early-round Sheffield Shield performances, his promotion has, according to national selector Trevor Hohns, been “thoroughly earned”.

Bancroft’s Test prospects had looked holed below the waterline in 2015, when a two-Test series in Bangladesh, in which he found himself touted as the logical successor to Chris Rogers, was scrapped amid security concerns.

Chris Rogers - Credit: Rex
Aussie abroad: fellow opener Chris Rogers had a long and successful career with Middlesex and Somerset Credit: Rex

Such ambitions would be thwarted again, after he was heralded as David Warner’s first-choice opening partner to face New Zealand, only for Joe Burns to receive the nod instead.

Now that Bancroft has been thrust centre stage on cricket’s most august platform of all, his advocates in England have few doubts he can prosper.

Last year he played for Gloucestershire in the County Championship, as a replacement for Michael Klinger, and found that his game turned a corner.

“Mother Cricket,” as Langer, his childhood inspiration, calls these strange twists of fate. It is only fitting, then, that Langer should now be his coach with Western Australia, predicting with confidence that Bancroft could pose a roadblock for England. “Cam has elite fitness,” he says. “No one in the world works harder.”

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