BBL 2018-19: When James Pattinson playfully sledged Cameron Bancroft

Cameron Bancroft, who recently returned to Australia’s cricket after serving a suspension of nine months following the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town, was greeted with boos in his return to domestic cricket at Launceston. However, he was also sledged by James Pattinson in the Big Bash League (BBL) when Bancroft was representing Perth Scorchers in their match against Brisbane Heat.

On Saturday, Bancroft strained to get off the mark and went on to score 24 runs from 26 deliveries with a couple of hits into the stands. The experienced Chris Lynn, who captains the Heat in the T20 tournament, made the revelations about what Pattinson said to Bancroft.

“(Bancroft) played a couple of balls and Jimmy was into him: ‘Mate, you had nine months to get that front pad out of the way’ and stuff like that. It was good banter,” Lynn told Macquarie Sports Radio. “Bangers is a good kid, one of the hardest trainers I’ve ever seen so he’s going to come back really strong, but I still think there’s going to be a couple of guys ahead of him (in the running for a Test berth).”

Tufnell takes a dig at Bancroft

Former English spinner Phil Tufnell, during commentary, took a dig at him, saying that Bancroft’s mother would’ve sewed his pocket. “He wouldn’t have fancied coming in at 3/16 but I just hope his mother sewed his pockets up tonight. Good luck to him, it’s nice to see him back, I’m sure he’s had a terrific nine months and he’s learnt his lesson.”

Bancroft hasn’t had the best of stints in this BBL. He could score only a couple in his first match against Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston. In the second match, the right-hander managed 19 runs against Sydney Thunder after which he was trapped in front by leg-break bowler Jonathan Cook. He would keen to get some substantial scores under his belt with his team languishing at the bottom of the table.

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