KFC BBL|12
Time spent on the sidelines at the beginning of BBL|12 helped Cameron Bancroft prepare for an explosive second half of the season
Jack Paynter
28 January 2023, 10:02 AM AEST
@jackpayn
In his final Sheffield Shield innings before the Big Bash break, Cameron Bancroft faced 448 balls – the second most he's ever faced in a first-class knock.
So far in KFC BBL|12 he's faced less than half that (197) from his nine innings but has almost double the 164 runs he scored in that defiant knock against Queensland at the Gabba.
It's a new-found striking power that would have stunned most onlookers but Western Australia and Perth Scorchers batting coach Beau Casson believes it has always been there throughout his 10-year professional career.
And he says it was Bancroft's time spent on the sidelines at the beginning of the tournament that helped him understand what T20 success looks like as he was forced to watch the "world-class" Faf du Plessis and fellow import Adam Lyth go about their work.
It was a familiar situation for the 30-year-old as he was kept out of the reigning champions’ side by batters deemed more explosive.
The former Test opener eventually got an opportunity at No.3 against the Renegades on New Year's Day before moving to the top once du Plessis and Lyth departed for rival T20 leagues in South Africa and the UAE.
Bancroft has since rocketed up to 16th on the competition runs tally with 289 while striking at 146.70 – the highest strike rate by far of his eight BBL seasons – while also turning in two player-of-the-match performances.
"While it was tough (for him) to sit on the on the sidelines not playing, it just allowed him to get a little bit more clarity, and with some healthy conversations with WA and Scorchers staff he had a real clear idea on what success looks like," Casson tells cricket.com.au ahead of the Scorchers Qualifier final against the Sixers in Perth on Saturday.
"The mindset of playing T20 … that's been the significant shift.
"Like most good players he absolutely loves batting and batting for long periods of time, that's a huge skill in its own right.
"Unfortunately, you're going to get out (in T20), but how he can influence the game in – it might be 10 balls, it might be 30 balls – that's been a real difference in terms of his mindset of how he's approached the T20 game.
"The ability to be able to play the situation and not just play one way is something that we've seen every year, (he is) getting better and better at improving his game in that space."
And while Casson says there's been glimpses of Bancroft's explosiveness in the past, the right-hander has been "more assured and consistent" at maintaining it this season despite the ups and downs that are part and parcel of the game’s shortest format.
Another big shift has been his power throughout his innings after the field goes out following the Powerplay.
While his overall dot ball percentage (26.4) and balls per boundary (6.2) are down to their lowest points in his Big Bash career, according to data provided by Opta, his middle (7-15) and death overs (16-20) strike rates of 155.79 and 252.94 respectively are at their highest.
"What has been a real feature is he's worked really hard and he sweeps both ways, conventional and reverse, and he's worked hard to be able to clear the pickets on occasions through the middle period of the game," Casson says.
"He's extended one or two shots over the last couple of years but he's always had an array of shots in his repertoire … he's just become a lot more consistent in knowing when to push the levers that he needs to push.
"It's been nice to watch him actually impose himself on the situation and also ask opposition bowlers to have to change what they need to do to try and bowl to him and contain him.
"And it's not just a quick fix. It's something he's slowly been chipping away at for a couple of years and he's starting to see the fruits of it now."
While undoubtedly his Marsh Sheffield Shield form with four hundreds in his past 12 innings has him back in the conversation for a Test recall, Casson believes it could be the start of a really fruitful time in all formats for Bancroft, who made his sole T20 international appearance against India in January 2016.
Bancroft himself is determined to make sure that is the case.
"I want to be a player that's adaptable across all formats of the game," he says.
"T20 is a part of my game I've always wanted to improve, like all the other formats, that's the beautiful thing about cricket is the opportunities to be able to play all three formats of the game."
Casson added: "It's the great thing about our game, you can't hide away from the numbers.
"If you keep churning them out and punching out big numbers, we've seen them rewarded – Usman Khawaja got back in the side, our head coach at WA and the Scorchers Adam Voges played cricket for Australia at a later age, (as did) Chris Rogers, so if you keep doing that the opportunities will present.
"I well and truly think (playing for Australia again) is within his grasp."
Scorchers squad v Sixers: Ashton Turner (c), Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly, Stephen Eskinazi (England), Aaron Hardie, Peter Hatzoglou, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis, Lance Morris, David Payne (England), Chris Sabburg, Andrew Tye
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