Blazing Bancroft hits top gear in the Top End

Banned Test opener Cameron Bancroft has found form with a whirlwind knock in the Top End, smashing a quick-fire 78 for the Desert Blaze in the Northern Territory Strike League on Sunday.

Bancroft crashed five sixes and three fours in his 55-ball innings, leading the Blaze to their fourth straight win against the Southern Storm at Darwin's Marrara Oval.

SCORECARD: Desert Blaze v Southern Storm

It's the highest score any of the three players suspended in the Cape Town ball-tampering incident have managed in their respective returns to cricket.

Bancroft had posted scores of 1 and 8 in back-to-back T20 matches in the Strike League's opening weekend last week, before he was bowled for 6 in the first of their two games on Sunday.

But his knock in the afternoon game saw him back among the runs, as Brisbane Heat batsman Alex Ross followed it up with 38 off 19 balls to see their side to 2-187 off their 20 overs. 

Former Australia Under-19 batsman Damien Mortimer (36 off 34 balls) and Western Australia allrounder Will Bosisto (34 off 22) fared best in reply, but the Storm were bowled out for 143 to hand the Blaze a 44-run victory.

The Strike League will see two more T20s played next Sunday before the competition shifts to 50-over cricket the following weekend, with Bancroft's Desert Blaze to come up against a City Cyclones team featuring David Warner on July 22.

It's understood Bancroft is also in line to make his debut for PINT Cricket Club against Southern Districts in the Darwin and District Cricket Competition this coming Saturday.

Bancroft is serving a nine-month suspension from all international and Australian domestic cricket for his part in the Newlands scandal earlier this year, while Steve Smith and David Warner each copped 12-month bans.

"To get back in to some cricket is really exciting," Bancroft said after the Blaze's games last Sunday. "I’ll keep enjoying every moment here."

"Cricket is a component and part of my life. I know that for the last couple of months cricket has not necessarily been the No.1 priority in my life."

The banned trio are each permitted to play club cricket and in overseas domestic leagues, with Warner set for a two-game stint in the Strike League once the Global T20 Canada concludes.

Smith, who is playing for the Toronto Nationals in the inaugural edition of the Toronto-based T20 league, struck an unbeaten 43-ball 55 against a Cricket West Indies B team on Sunday.

That was the second time the former Test captain has passed fifty in his return, but Warner's woes continued on Saturday as he made a duck against the Edmonton Royals.

The left-hander is yet to manage double-digits in the tournament, posting totals of 1, 4, 1, 6 and 0.