Cameron Bancroft reflects, forgives and moves forward

Bancroft, along with Steve Smith and David Warner, the then Australian captain and vice-captain, had been involved in ball-tampering during their team’s Test series in South Africa in March. While the senior players were banned for a year, Bancroft is set to return from a nine-month suspension with a likely appearance in the Big Bash League.

Ahead of his return, in a piece for the West Australian newspaper published on Friday, 21 December, as a letter to himself on the day the scandal broke, he opened up about how the nine months had changed him.

“I write this letter to you while onboard QF772 to Melbourne on December 18, 2018. You are not playing yet but you are excited to be travelling with your Scorchers teammates,” he wrote. “And while you do not look that different, on the inside you are a vastly different man to the bloke who made that mistake in South Africa.

“You know you cannot say sorry enough, but actually it is time you allow your cricket to be about what you have learnt and use this opportunity to make a great impact.

“Many people will judge you as a cheat, but that is OK. Always love and respect everyone. You will love those people because you forgive them. Just like you’re going to forgive yourself.”

Reflecting on how he coped in those early days after the events in Newlands when he felt “imprisoned, sad, lost and yet strangely hopeful”, he said it was about going “back to the basics”. He leaned on his family, friends, a sports psychologist, and a routine that involved gym, running, meditation and yoga.

“The simple mistake of doing something because you were wanting to fit in had come at a huge cost. Yoga will teach you how to be true to yourself,” he wrote.

The yoga, in fact, became so important to him, that he took up a teacher training course and considered giving up cricket to teach yoga.

Not being part of the Warriors squad on their pre-season trip to Brisbane was a “defining moment” in the realisation that he may never be involved in cricket again, and that was OK, he explained.

“Until you are able to acknowledge that you are Cameron Bancroft, the person who plays cricket as a profession, and not Cameron Bancroft the cricketer, you will not be able to move forward. This will become a defining moment for you.”

Playing tough grade cricket at Willetton District Cricket Club helped him rediscover a fun side to cricket.

“The first game will give you the answer about what the game of cricket means to you. It is simply just fun. You wear a blue cap, it won’t be a Baggy Green, but the enjoyment is the same. You love the game. That’s the heart of all passion. Cricket is still well and truly a part of who you are.

“Wanting to know the answer to everything in your cricket, in your life will become the past, a value of your old self. Be grateful, for it’s a beautiful journey ahead of you. It is amazing how embracing this uncertainty will become fun.”