Durham have named their new signing Cameron Bancroft as captain for the start of the county season, a year on from the Australian ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town.
The 26-year-old was banned from cricket for nine months for his part in the incident during the Newlands Test against South Africa in March last year that led to Steve Smith and David Warner also receiving year-long suspensions.
After returning in Australia’s Big Bash League in December, and playing a role in the back end of Western Australia’s current Sheffield Shield campaign, Bancroft is due to play for Durham in the County Championship this year with a view to cracking Australia’s Ashes squad.
The club are doubling down on their support of the opener they signed last July by handing him the captaincy role that was vacated by Paul Collingwood, who has retired. Bancroft will take charge of the County Championship and Royal London Cup teams, with a Twenty20 captain yet to be decided.
Durham, now under a new Australian director of cricket in Marcus North, believe that Bancroft has served his time and – despite his past experience being limited to a couple of Australia Under-19 matches in 2011 – that his character represents strong leadership material.
Their lead high performance coach, James Franklin, said: “We’re delighted to have Cameron with us for the season and we’re confident he has the attributes to lead this exciting young Durham dressing room.
“He’s proven since returning to first-class cricket over the last few months that he has the mental toughness, skill and attitude to excel at the highest level and I’m sure he will relish the challenge we have at Durham this season.”
While Smith and Warner also have bans from future leadership roles – the former for two years, the latter for the remainder of his career – Bancroft was essentially considered the stooge in Australia’s efforts to tamper with the ball in Cape Town and received no such sanction.
One snag comes through Bancroft’s arrival at Durham being delayed by an insistence he attends Western Australia’s end-of-season awards dinner. He will miss the season opener against Derbyshire on 5 April, with the batsman Alex Lees tipped to lead in his absence.
The right-hander, who played in the 2017-18 Ashes, is among a number of Australian Test hopefuls involved in the English county summer, with Nottinghamshire confirming on Thursday that the fast bowler James Pattinson will return to the club for their 50-over campaign and seven County Championship matches.
Kent have also signed the opener Matt Renshaw for the early part of the summer, while Peter Siddle and Shaun Marsh are due for second successive seasons at Essex and Glamorgan, respectively.
Smith, who like Warner is set to play in the upcoming Indian Premier League season, is reportedly eyeing a county deal but his likely inclusion in Australia’s World Cup squad would make this highly impractical.
Australia are expected to hold off on naming their Ashes squad to take in these early summer performances and some of their A side’s tour of England that begins in June. Bancroft, who scored an unbeaten 138 during his first-class return with Western Australia last month, may well make this tour and force Durham to adjust once more.