'Done it tough': Bancroft raises first century of the season

Cameron Bancroft has produced a breakthrough Sheffield Shield century to end a horror form slump that cost him a spot in the Test team.

Bancroft struck an unbeaten 105 off 255 balls as Western Australia declared at 3-243 in their second innings to set South Australia a victory target of 364 off 90 overs at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.

Bancroft started the season as a genuine chance to win the vacant opener's spot in the Test side following two mammoth years with the bat.

But after starring for Gloucestershire with three red-ball centuries and another in the 50-over format during the northern summer, his form quickly turned south as he started the Shield season with scores of 0, 0, 8 and 2.

In his two matches for Australia A, which effectively doubled as a bat-off for the vacant top-order spot in the Test team, Bancroft scored 0, 16, 3 and 0, leading some commentators to suggest he should take a break to refresh ahead of the Big Bash.

Nathan McSweeney ended up earning the Test call-up ahead of Bancroft, Marcus Harris and Sam Konstas.

Bancroft went on to make 12 and 11 in his next Shield match against Victoria, before opening the current Shield clash with a first-ball duck, despite not appearing to have edged the ball.

It continued a rotten run of luck for Bancroft, which included being given out caught behind off his thigh pad in the first Australia A match in Mackay.

But on Monday his luck finally changed, reaching stumps in WA's day-night clash unbeaten on 71.

His first three boundaries were all edges through the slip cordon and on Tuesday he had one edge fall short and another edge fly too high for the fielder on his way to reaching his 30th first-class century.

His 255-ball stay that included six fours and one six off Ben Manenti over midwicket showed Bancroft was back to his determined best and, importantly, put his side in a strong position entering the final stages of their round five fixture.

The 32-year-old raised his bat and helmet to the sky upon reaching triple figures, with the knock an important step in his bid to get back in the national conversation after missing his chance for second consecutive summer.

"You could probably sense there was a bit of relief down in the changerooms from him, but we've seen how hard he's been working," said WA head coach Adam Voges at stumps on day three.

"It hasn't quite gone his way (this season) – even the decision in the first innings didn't go his way in this game.

"But he's made a lot of runs over his career, he's been one of the leading run-scorers over the last couple of Shield seasons, so we knew it was going to turnaround at some point and thankfully it has today.

"I think South Australia bowled particularly well to him and made him earn every run that he scored, so he's done it tough and hopefully he's starting to come out the other side."

Bancroft was on 103 when he was dropped by Ben Manenti, who did his best but couldn't hold on to his one-handed diving attempt at point.

WA declared a short time later, and they made early inroads into SA's top-order before rain halted their victory charge and they ran out of overs, the match ending in a draw with the hosts six down.

Sheffield Shield standings 2024-25

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 South Australia Men SA	6	3	1	2	0	0	4.63	5.3	29.93
2 Victoria Men VIC	6	3	2	1	0	0	3.76	5.3	28.06
3 NSW Men NSW	6	2	2	2	0	0	5.5	4.7	24.2
4 Western Australia Men WA	6	2	2	2	0	0	5.11	4.8	23.91
5 Queensland Bulls QLD	6	1	2	3	0	0	4.71	5.6	19.31
6 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	6	1	3	2	0	0	6.05	4.6	18.65

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points