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Cam Bancroft: “Every team has a match winner. That’s what makes the Blast so special.”

8 March 2025

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After triumphing in 2024, Gloucestershire’s opening batter can’t wait to help his side defend its Vitality Blast title.

Gloucestershire batter Cameron Bancroft has hailed the Vitality Blast as “special” as tickets for one of cricket’s most thrilling competitions go on sale today.

The former Australia Test star is currently plying his trade Down Under – but admits he’s eager to get back to Bristol.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he says. “From a Vitality Blast perspective, last year was pretty exciting. Hopefully winning the comp gives us something to build on this year.”

He adds: “As a competition, the Vitality Blast is just so unpredictable. That’s what makes it so good. Everyone wants home-ground advantage, but T20 is a game where anyone can beat anyone else.

“All the teams are just so talented and strong, and every team has got a match winner that can just pop up and do something incredible. That’s what the fans want to go to see and that’s what makes it all so special.”

Bancroft and the rest of his Gloucestershire team-mates took home the 2024 Vitality Blast after demolishing Somerset in the Edgbaston final. He says resilience played a big part in their overall success.

“It was incredible. We probably got a little bit lucky making the top four. We’d had a week off and while a few of us went to Ibiza, we were also keeping a really close eye on the Essex-Hampshire game because we needed a Hampshire win for us to quality.

“Then we were down-and-out in the semi-final, making a pretty sub-par score, but we stuck together and that was the key theme of our whole campaign. Jack Taylor led the team beautifully and made some really good decisions as captain. When you do that for long enough, you give yourself a chance.”

Bancroft’s 53 runs off 42 balls, including five fours and two sixes, were a key factor in the eventual eight-wicket victory against Somerset. But despite putting on a 112-run partnership with Miles Hammond for his side’s first wicket, Bancroft says the foundations were laid much earlier.

“Bowling first was really important for us,” he says. “Then Matt Taylor and David Payne did what they’d done for us during the whole tournament – take wickets – and from there it’s just really good memories.

“It was nice to be out there batting for a good stretch with Miles – he played so well that day – and we were just feeding off each other. But the biggest memory, obviously, is the moment Ollie Price hit that six and we all just came running onto the field. You could just tell it meant so much to the guys, and to the whole of Gloucestershire.”

Last year, Bancroft was Gloucestershire’s leading scorer in the Vitality Blast. The prospect of another year in Bristol has him eager to do well again in 2025.

He says: “It’s nearly 10 years since I first played with Gloucestershire, back in 2016, and I’ve got a huge soft spot for the club. Bristol’s a great city to live in, and a lot of the same guys from 10 years ago are still kicking around now. It’s a very enjoyable place for me.”

He adds: “I thought I was OK last season, but I definitely felt like I could be a lot better. So the plan is to try to build on that this time around.

“Gloucestershire’s always been a good white ball side, going back to my first stint at the club. It’s not easy to win a competition like the Vitality Blast. But hopefully we can now draw on that experience, remember how last season went, and hopefully give ourselves a really good chance of doing it all again.”

Vitality Blast: 2,500 tickets already sold for Glos v Somerset T20

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