User:TripleRoryFan/sandbox/Cameron Bancroft with the Australian cricket team in South Africa in 2017–18

Cameron Bancroft played for the Australian cricket team on their tour of South Africa in early 2018.

Background
Bancroft joined the Australian Test side for the first time in the 2017–18 Ashes series, but he performed poorly only scoring 179 runs at an average of 25.57, the only person in Australia's top six not to score a century during the series. The only major impact he had on the series was scoring an unbeaten 82 in the first Test, and he was batting on relatively flat surfaces, making it more concerning that he hadn't been able to score runs. He was backed by captain Steve Smith and kept in the squad for the tour of South Africa regardless, needing to capture form and prove himself.

Tour match against South Africa A
Bancroft's came out to bat for Australia for the first time of the tour at the end of the first day of their tour match against South Africa A. Despite an early mishap, edging the ball just short of the slip cordon to score his first runs, Bancroft survived the final session of the day while wickets fell around him, keeping his cool and scoring 24 runs before the end of the day's play. He was resolute in defence, showing the temperament he would need during the series to succeed, and doing so on a difficult pitch with inconsistent bounce. Bancroft was incorrectly dismissed on 45 runs when the umpire mistakenly thought he had edged the ball, denying him the chance for more time in the middle to build his confidence.

First Test
Bancroft opened the batting on day one of the first Test with David Warner. He was dismissed for few runs, shuffling out of his crease and nicking the ball. Warner went on to score a half-century, and in the afternoon Bancroft had a conversation with Warner about his batting. This was the seventh innings in a row for Australia in which Bancroft had failed to score more than 30 runs and compounded the pressure on him to perform well. Despite the fact that Australia had not brought another opening batsman on tour, former Test opening batsman Matt Renshaw, whose spot in the side Bancroft had taken at the start of the Ashes, was back in form in the Sheffield Shield with scores of 112 and 170.