Former Australian batsman and Perth Scorchers coach Adam Voges has praised right-hand opening batsman Cameron Bancroft for his efforts to become a more balanced and well-rounded individual.
Having been banned by Cricket Australia for 9 months for his involvement from the ball-tampering incident in South Africa earlier this year, Bancroft got some cricket under his belt in the recently concluded club tournament in Darwin but quite admirably, the youngster is also trying to inculcate better ethical values in himself while in strive for a comeback to play the sport that he surely adores.
He is currently in Melbourne attending a month-long yoga instructor retreat but the 25-year-old is also learning Spanish during his ban.
Knowing this, Voges, who played 20 Tests and 31 ODIs for Australia, was quite impressed with Bancroft's efforts and got quoted saying, "It (the yoga) is something that he's really passionate about, It gives him a bit of balance away from the game, which we promote with all of our players."
"He's really active in terms of trying to better himself in different areas. He's trying to find the benefits of having time out of cricket. I think that's really good for him." he added.
Bancroft, who also plays for Perth Scorchers, won't be available for them for the first three games of Big Bash League this year, as his ban ends on December 29, as the marquee cricket event in the Australian summer begins earlier.
Voges also gave an insight into his plans for each player as the tournament comes close and talked especially about managing the injury-plagued duo of Jason Behrendorff and Nathan Coulter-Nile, who are on their way to feature for Western Australia in the 50-overs as well as for Perth Scorchers in BBL competitions this summer, having recovered from serious back injuries.
Voges said, "We're not building them for red ball cricket at this stage, We'll review that at the end of the Big Bash. In the past, we've tried to build them up for everything, and they've broken, and we haven't got them for anything."
"We're not guaranteeing this will work. But if we can get a full 50-over campaign and a full BBL out of both of those guys, it will be a lot more than what we have got in the past," he concluded.
(Inputs from Cricket.com.au)
