Cameron Bancroft expects to have fully recovered from his shoulder injury to captain Gloucestershire at the start of the 2025 County Championship season, and is targeting a return for Western Australia next month.
Bancroft was involved in a sickening commission with Daniel Sams while fielding for Sydney Thunder in the BBL in January, and has revealed that he has suffered from a level of “trauma” since the injury. He has not played since after breaking his nose and shoulder, but is hoping to be back involved in the Sheffield Shield in March before heading over to England.
Gloucestershire announced on Wednesday that he will captain their Championship side this year, stepping into the role after Graeme van Buuren stepped down at the end of last season. Bancroft told the club’s channels that he is recovering “pretty well” and “getting close” to full fitness.
“The shoulder’s tracking alright. Obviously [there was] a little bit of trauma there to deal with and manage,” Bancroft said. “I’m definitely learning some things that I’ve seen a lot of other players experience. It takes time for the body to heal… I’m getting really close and looking forward to playing some cricket at the start of March.”
Bancroft impressed across formats for Gloucestershire in 2024, scoring three Championship hundreds and finishing as their leading run-scorer as they won the T20 Blast. He is due back for the full season in 2025, and head coach Mark Alleyne said that his attitude last year made him the ideal choice as captain.
“Cameron had an impressive year with us in 2024 and led by example in everything he did,” Alleyne said. “I love his dedication to preparation and his subsequent transference of that in the middle. His experience of playing Test match cricket and winning four-day titles gives him a broad base of experience which our players can feed off.”
Gloucestershire finished second-bottom of Division Two last year, but Bancroft believes they can push for promotion. “We had great lessons last year,” he said. “We’ll draw on those lessons, keep working on our strengths and the things we’re really good at. If we can do that, we’re going to be a team that’s going to be really hard to beat and be really competitive.”
