ZCZC
BSP-01
CRICKET-AUS-BANCROFT
Disgraced Bancroft reveals he almost gave up cricket for yoga
SYDNEY, Dec 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Disgraced Australian player Cameron
Bancroft Saturday said he was a vastly different person to the one caught
ball-tampering and revealed he considered walking away from cricket to become
a yoga teacher.
The opener received a nine-month ban from the international and domestic
game for his part in the scandal in South Africa that rocked the sport, in
which he used sandpaper to try to alter the ball.
Then-captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner were suspended for a
year.
A day after Smith re-emerged into public life with a press conference in
Sydney, Bancroft has also broken his silence a week ahead of his ban running
out.
He did so in the form of a long letter addressed to his former self,
published in the West Australian newspaper, describing his emotional journey
since. In it, Bancroft describes the major influence Australian coach Justin
Langer has had on him, along with West Australian mentor Adam Voges.
He said a crucial moment was Voges asking him to justify why he should be
on a pre-season trip to Brisbane by the Western Warriors Sheffield Shield
team.
“On your way to present your case to your coach you realise this is the
moment when you begin to become OK with the thought of never having cricket
as part of your life again,” he wrote in the self-addressed letter.
“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.”
Yoga became an important part of his life in exile while dealing with an
absence of cricket, to the extent that he considered quitting the game to
become of a teacher of the discipline.
“Maybe cricket isn’t for you, you’ll ask yourself … will you return?
Yoga will be such a fulfilling experience,” he wrote.
Bancroft ultimately decided to pursue his cricket career and is due to
make his comeback in the Big Bash Twenty20 League for the Perth Scorchers on
December 30.
“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,” he added
in the letter.
“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.”
BSS/AFP/SSS/0845 hrs