Sri Lanka snub: Test hopeful Peter Handscomb reveals what selectors said when told he was overlooked

Peter Handscomb thought he was probably going to be in Sri Lanka at the end of the month. All the signs were pointing that way. Then came the phone call which shattered the Victorian star.

Peter Handscomb thought he was probably going to be in Sri Lanka at the end of the month.

All the signs were pointing that way. Just as had occurred two years earlier ahead of the tour of India, Handscomb had been invited to spend time with the Australian squad in Sydney.

He’d developed a reputation as one of the nation’s best players of spin, and was coming off a year in which he’d plundered 1572 runs in first-class cricket, reaching 50 more than anyone else in the world.

“Confidence was pretty high,” Handscomb told this masthead.

“The few conversations that we’d had leading into it was all very much like, ‘what would you need to prep yourself if you are selected, if selection does go your way, then what do you need to be best, best prepared?’ So it always feels good when they’re asking you what you want to get ready.”

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Peter Handscomb thought he would be part of Australia’s Test squad for Sri Lanka. Picture: Getty Images

Handscomb was one of three players with Test experience who joined the Aussie camp during the Sydney Test at the start of the month. The other two were spinners Matt Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy. Those two got picked for Sri Lanka. Handscomb did not.

Instead, selectors George Bailey, Tony Dodemaide and coach Andrew McDonald opted to recall Nathan McSweeney just a few weeks after he had been dropped, while Josh Inglis was cleared from injury to be the backup gloveman and an additional middle order batting option.

Like in the case of Glenn Maxwell being bypassed for younger spinning all-rounder Cooper Connolly, there was a school of thought that the decision to pick McSweeney over Handscomb had owed to the fact Australia had already qualified for June’s World Test Championship final.

That assertion was rejected by Bailey, and Handscomb confirmed that the private messaging had matched the public line.

Australia's Peter Handscomb plays a shot during the first day of the third Test against India in March, 2023. Picture: AFP

“That’s exactly how it was conveyed to me as well, that this wasn’t a development squad. They’re not going over there to give guys a go. And that’s something that George has always told me, since he’s been in charge,

“Test cricket, especially (with) the Test Championship, is now very, even more so important. And every Test is important, even though they have qualified for the final. So this isn’t just a tour that you go over willy nilly and play whoever. It’s still very much they’re trying to win, and they’re trying to win both Tests.”

For Handscomb, 33, the disappointment of bad selection news is all-too-familiar. He has been dropped from the Test side five times since his outstanding entrance into international cricket eight summers ago.

Does rejection get easier with age? To a degree.

“It still sucks anytime you don’t get picked or anytime you get dropped,” Handscomb said.

“But I think just being through more experiences, now having a child (two-year-old son Jack) puts in life into perspective. So yeah, it’s funny, you can still be disappointed and still be angry and disagree with what’s going on, but my ability to sort of move on from it now, or put it in perspective has changed that it’s not the be all and end all.

“It’s very nice when you when you play and get selected, but there’s a lot more out there, and there’s a lot more to do. So I suppose just having those experiences has made getting not selected or being dropped a lot easier to take.”

Without a Big Bash League deal, Handscomb was back at it for the Cricket Australia XI this week, posting a second innings half-century in a win against the touring England Lions in Brisbane.

Peter Handscomb played for the Cricket Australia XI this week. Picture: Getty Images

And he has not given up hope of adding to his 20 Tests. He remains on standby for Sri Lanka, and though having a good reputation against spin is nice, he sees it as a double-edged sword. He also point sout that he’s made plenty of runs against pace too in Australia and England, where he is due to return to Leicestershire after a prolific 2024.

“I’m still looking at every Test tour, whatever that is. And the only thing I can do is keep making runs, whether that’s here in Australia, or when I go over and play the county season. As long as I can keep putting scores on the board, then I’m putting my best foot forward for every, every Test series, not just the subcontinent ones. I’d like to still put my hand up for the ones at home and in other continents as well, just because I feel like my games in a really good, really good place.”

Originally published as Sri Lanka snub: Test hopeful Peter Handscomb reveals what selectors said when told he was overlooked