Ashes 2019 | Travelling With Baggy Green Helped Focus on My Goals: Bancroft

Australia opener Cameron Bancroft’s inclusion in the Ashes squad didn’t come as a major surprise, with the 26-year-old returning to the national team for the first time since the sandpaper gate last year.

Bancroft has shown impressive form in the domestic circuit and has also captained Durham in the England second division.

Bancroft revealed that when he travelled to England for the county season, the Ashes was pretty much in his mind and he carried his baggy green in the suitcase which served as a motivation for him.

"It's something you're obviously very proud of," Bancroft was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"It's a very prestigious item to have and you take good care of it because it means something to you … and being able to see that is obviously really good to focus your goals, and where you want to be going."

"It's good motivation isn't it?," he added.

"To look at it and go 'yeah I'm playing cricket but there's something bigger I eventually want to be able to get back to'.

"I guess it was good motivation to keep working hard … to keep my goals and keep focused."

Bancroft further admits that he’s a different man now after serving his nine-month suspension, where he often turned to yoga and realized that cricket is just a sport.

"I think being serious about cricket is important, but I think it's also about being able to realise the game is just a game of cricket," he said.

"One of the big lessons that I learned last year was about being true to yourself.

"There is no doubt that I wasn’t as true to myself as I could have been at times (but) you learn from mistakes that you make, and you try and be better.

"At the end of the day, what you do and your actions is completely up to you.

"I made a mistake, and I’ll learn from it and move forward and get better."

While Steve Smith and David Warner have already faced the hostility of the English crowds in the World Cup, Bancroft will certainly be amongst the targets from the crowd during the Ashes but that isn’t bothering him much for now at least.

“It’s all right, it doesn’t bother me too much," he said of the crowd reception he knows will be waiting.

"People will react how they want to react.

"Hopefully, I can use it if people want to be like that, to give (me) energy to perform well.

"But I can’t control that.

"I guess the journey that I’ve been through over the last 18 months, you get exposed to things like that.

"I’ll just deal with it and keep moving forward."