Sheffield Shield: West Australian opener Cam Bancroft scores century in stunning turnaround of form

Cam Bancroft has launched a stunning turnaround of his form, ending a wretched run drought with a century for Western Australia in Adelaide on Tuesday. The veteran opener’s best score of the summer was 16 before he made a hundred in the second innings of the Sheffield Shield clash with South Australia. And it comes after a golden duck in the first innings. Bancroft passed the mark with a pull shot off impressive left-arm quick Spencer Johnson off 247 balls. He pumped his fist as he ran down the wicket to complete the run and raised both arms in a celebration filled with relief. He finished unbeaten on 105 when WA declared and Ashton Turner, 24, helped stretch out a WA lead. They called their innings on 3-243 but will then need to take 10 wickets in around two sessions to pinch an improbable rain-affected win. Bancroft’s horror run to start the season meant he missed out on the vacant spot at the top of the order in the Australian team, with Nathan McSweeney coming into the side as a makeshift opener. The breakthrough comes with Australia under-siege in the wake of a heavy defeat in The West Test in Perth, which finished on Monday, and with the country’s top-order batters under fire. But there is just one more round of Sheffield Shield games to be played between now and after the start of the second Test in Sri Lanka in February. He had scored five ducks in first-class cricket this season, including one each in two crucial auditions for Australia A. No.3 Jayden Goodwin made a career-best 139 in the first innings and 69 in the second.