 In his return to Shield Cricket, Bancroft made an unbeaten 138* runs off 358 balls in his first innings, and 86 off 263 in his second innings for the Western Warriors against the NSW Blues.Overall with Bancroft facing a total of 621 balls in the match, he fell just 28 balls short of former Australian Captain Steve Waugh's record of most balls faced in a shield match, at 649 balls.He was later controversially appointed as county captain for Durham.