IS BANCROFT THE ANSWER FOR THE AUSSIES?

WHO IS HE?

At 24 years old (he’ll celebrate his 25th birthday four days before the start of the Ashes campaign), Bancroft has been playing regular first-class cricket since the 2013-14 Aussie winter.

A steady first season in the Sheffield Shield gave way to a breakthrough second and, in 2014-15, he finished third on the competition’s leading runscorers list with 896 at 47.15, having hit three tons including a daddy 211 against New South Wales.

He’s been close to a Test cap before, in 2015, only for Australia’s tour to Bangladesh - on which he had been named - to be scrapped because of security concerns, and he’s already made his debut for his country in Twenty20.

Bancroft has pedigree and a body of statistical proof to say he can cut it at the highest level, yet during 2016 he was slipping off the grid.

Bancroft's 228* surpasses his previous best, his marathon 211 against NSW in March 2015