London: Cameron Bancroft is “trying too hard” and needs to clear his mind as he seeks pressure-relieving runs at Lords this week.
That is the view of Australia coach Justin Langer, who was meeting with the opener on Sunday afternoon as his team continued preparations for the second Test starting on Wednesday.
Bancroft, one Test back from a lengthy ban over the Cape Town ball-tampering affair, is as intense a character as there is in the Australian set-up in terms of his focus on his batting and getting the best out of himself.
He had two single-figure scores in the first Test – as did opening partner David Warner – and followed that with contributions of 33 and seven in the tour match at Worcester, during which he also dropped two catches in the slips.
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While Marcus Harris is also in the squad, the West Australian will retain his place in the team at Lords but Langer says he needs to “reset”.
Cameron Bancroft leaves the field after being dismissed during day one of the first Test.Credit:Rui Vieira
“He dropped a couple of catches … he is probably just trying a bit hard at the moment,” he said.
“Its one of the challenges for James Pattinson actually. He set himself to play back in the Australian team, he set himself to play Ashes cricket. Hes ticked both of them off and now hes going to have to reset his goals and a lot of young people dont do that well.
“They go Ive done it now and they forget to reset. Ive spoken to Patto about it and Ill say the same thing to Cameron Bancroft. Hes come back in and now hes trying too hard, hes achieved that goal, he thought it might have taken a lot longer. He just has to reset his goals, clear his mind and just relax a bit.
“Cameron Bancroft is a gun [in the field]. The fact that hes dropping them and the fact that Im saying it here, is that its so unusual to see him drop catches. Its possibly that his mind is not clear at the moment. But Im sure hell be absolutely fine.”
The least experienced by some margin of the three players returning in this series from suspensions, Bancroft was, like Warner and Steve Smith, on the receiving end of a rough reception from Read More – Source
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