The Australian opener Cameron Bancroft’s return to competitive cricket has been confirmed as he has been named in the Perth Scorchers squad for their KFC BBL clash with the Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston on Sunday. He was earlier banned from playing cricket for using sandpaper on the ball on day three of the Cape Town Test in March officially expires today, and after the ban was over, he was immediately included in the 13-man squad for the match with the undefeated Hobart.

The Western Australian brought into the limelight before his ban got over, firstly by penning an open letter to himself in a Perth newspaper, and then he was also seen sitting down with close friend Adam Gilchrist during which he shared the events in Cape Town for an interview that aired on Fox Cricket at lunch on the first day of the Boxing Day Test.

While the shadow of the Ball-tampering scandal and precise events from inside the Australian dressing room continues to linger, teammates and opposition are delighted to welcome back Bancroft.

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Welcoming the player, Scorchers teammate Jhye Richardson said, “Everyone is really excited for him to come back. He’s been so positive in his build-up, he’s been training hard. We’re all really excited and really happy for him to be back in the team. I don’t think that’s going to change, I don’t think you can lose it, especially when we all know that he’s been training and (playing Premier Cricket). It will be good to see how he goes. It’s always nice to have him around, he’s such a nice guy off the field. We’re all really close with him.”

Bancroft marked the end of his ban with an Instagram post portraying an inspirational quote from a ‘self-described Christian mummy blogger’ whose book is being turned into a movie by Oprah Winfrey.

View this post on Instagram

28/3/18 – 28/12/18 What a journey this has been over the last 9 months. For me, in what seemed like troubled times in April can remember lying in bed feeling for some thing. Some inspiration and motivation to get me out of bed. After thinking, reading, wondering and living it came to me that I had a choice. To lay in suffering or get up, show up and act. Action led to motivation and motivation gave me all the inspiration I needed. Here I am now. Grateful of where I am and the person I continue to grow to be. Thank you to every person, group, team and community I have come across over the last 9 months. You know who you are. Namaste 🙏 Have faith and embrace uncertainty. Cam x

A post shared by Cameron Bancroft (@cbancroft4) on Dec 27, 2018 at 9:35pm PST

Hobart batsman George Bailey said he too was “excited” to see Bancroft back in action. He said, “I imagine they (the Scorchers) would be pretty excited to have him back in the group. I don’t know how the Scorchers feel but I will certainly be one person who would be very excited to see him back.”