File image of Cameron Bancroft© AFP
Ahead of the Sheffield final against Tasmania on Thursday at WACA, Australia batter Cameron Bancroft was admitted to hospital as he fell from his bike and has been ruled out of the event. Western Australia skipper Sam Whiteman said that Bancroft is alright and out of hospital. Further, he talked about the condition of the cricketer where he said that the 31-year-old has got plenty of scratches on his body. Bancroft’s loss is a huge blow for the Western Australia side as he is the second-highest scorer for the team in the tournament. The opener has scored 778 runs at an average of 48.62.
“[I’m] pretty gutted, but nice to hear he’s okay and out of the hospital. I think it’s pretty lucky that it wasn’t much worse. He’s got plenty of scratches. Hopefully, we’ll see him around the WACA this week, I know that he’s gutted to miss it, but he’ll get around the team. He’s done a lot of heavy lifting this year to get us into the final,” Whiteman told reporters on Wednesday.
In Bancroft’s absence, D’Arcy Short will open the innings and Jayden Goodwin could be promoted to No. 3. Teague Wyllie is likely to replace Bancroft in the playing XI.
Short has only played one Shield match this season where he made 49 batting at No.5 against Queensland on a difficult WACA surface earlier this month.
Goodwin, the son of former Zimbabwe Test batter Murray Goodwin, has had an outstanding season, scoring his first-class century against Queensland to cement his place as Western Australia’s number three. He also struck 85 in challenging batting circumstances at Bellerive Oval against Tasmania last month.
Wyllie has not competed in the Shield since early February, having struggled this season with an average of 17.80 from six matches. He opened the season with a brave 94 off 251 deliveries at No.3 against a full-strength Victorian attack but faded and was unsuccessfully moved down the order.
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