Cam Bancroft: WA opener’s drought-breaking century comes as relief to teammate Ashton Turner

Cam Bancroft’s long-time teammate Ashton Turner said he let out a “deep sigh of relief” when the beleaguered opener finally snapped a horror run drought with a century on Tuesday.

Bancroft, who had made five ducks in first-class cricket this season — including in the first innings — and had a top-score of 16, was left unbeaten on 105 in a stunning reversal of his dire form.

The ton in Western Australia’s Sheffield Shield draw with South Australia at Adelaide Oval comes amid intense scrutiny on Australia’s top order after a disastrous Test loss to India in Perth.

Turner was at the other end when Bancroft pulled a ball off Spencer Johnson to reach an emotional century.

“It was a great relief for, I think, everyone in Western Australian cricket,” WA’s stand-in captain said.

“Fans, staff, players, took a deep sigh of relief and no doubt we will spend some time celebrating his success and the success of a few of our teammates who have had really good games.”

Bancroft’s form slump came while the spotlight was fixed towards opening batters in the hunt for a replacement at the top of the order for Australia.

That race was won by Nathan McSweeney, but the makeshift opener battled in his first Test.

Turner said there was no shying away from the fact the past month had been difficult for Bancroft, who had been the competition’s dominant batter for two seasons.

“He has played so much cricket now, we have all been through periods like that and he has been through a couple of periods like that earlier in his career as well,” he said.

“We had a lot of confidence he would come through the other end at some stage, we were hoping it would be sooner rather than later for our season and fortunately that has happened.

“There’s no hiding from the fact it is a great relief for him. No one likes to be playing in a team and not feel like they’re contributing for a few games in a row.

“We have all been there and we have all felt that and fortunately, probably our premier batsman is now back in form and that’s a great thing for Western Australia.”

WA face New South Wales in a four-day match in Sydney from December 6, the same day the Adelaide Test starts.

Paceman Matt Kelly will be parked from that game as he builds towards the Big Bash League season with Perth Scorchers and Jhye Richardson and Lance Morris could be managed out of the match.

Cam Gannon and Brody Couch were both rested for this match, but the pair had been among the shield’s leading wicket-takers.

“We will reflect on the game, things we did well, things we can always improve on and pretty quickly we shift our attention to a game in Sydney in a few day’s time,” Turner said.