Australian opener Cameron Bancroft joins Somerset in Ashes bid after stunning Sheffield Shield form

Somerset have confirmed that they have signed Australian opener Cameron Bancroft for the first games of the County Championship season.

Bancroft, 30, is coming off a fantastic spell in red ball cricket where he was the leading scoring of the 2022/23 Sheffield Shield, scoring 945 runs at an average of 59, hitting four centuries along the way.

He also hit the winning runs in the final as Western Australia triumphed over Victoria.

It has led to a strong push from sections of the media for Bancroft to be recalled for the Ashes later this summer, and in order to push his case, he will play for Somerset at the start of the season.

Bancroft hasn’t appeared for Australia in Tests since 2019 but does have experience in England. He played for Durham both in 2019 and 2021, captaining the team in the former stint.

“With a couple of our batters currently recovering from injury, we saw this as an opportunity to solidify our batting line-up at a time of the year when runs will be at a premium,” said director of cricket Andy Hurry.

“During his recent spells within county cricket he has proved himself to be extremely proficient in English conditions and we are looking forward to adding his quality to our dressing room for those initial Championship matches.”

Australia are coming off a 2-1 defeat in the recent Gavaskar-Border Trophy series against India whilst England’s most recent Test series was a 1-1 draw against New Zealand.

The Ashes gets underway on June 16 with the first Test taking place at Edgbaston.