Haris Rauf was unknown to his Melbourne Stars teammates when he was named to make his Big Bash debut
Peter Handscomb has revealed his Melbourne Stars teammates had never heard of Haris Rauf and was shocked when he was announced in the team.
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When Pakistani speedster Haris Rauf ripped through the Hobart Hurricanes in Moe last month the Tassie team must have been cursing their lack of urgency in the weeks before.
The Big Bash revelation was in talks to join Hobart having rattled the local batsmen, including Canes opener D’Arcy Short, playing for Glenorchy in the Tassie T20 competition
But the Melbourne Stars swooped on Rauf after an early injury to star import Dale Steyn and now the 26-year-old speed machine, who took 5-27 in Moe bowling at 145kmh, will lead the green team’s attack in the wake of the South African’s departure.
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Rauf was an unknown to everyone, even his Stars teammates, before his shock BBL debut on the Gold Coast last month, when he took 2-20, with word of his Tassie efforts failing to reach the mainland.
His addition to the team for that match against the Heat was announced via the players WhatsApp group, to plenty of surprise.
But it only took one look at Rauf bowling in the nets for Stars batsman Peter Handscomb to realise they had something specialon their hands.
“I’d never heard of him. Then when Dale (Steyn) was a bit sore off the flight from South Africa I saw we announced our team and there was this Haris Rauf,” Handscomb said.
“Then a message came on the WhatsApp that he would be joining us in Queensland and we were like ‘OK, great”.
“He came in and bowled in the nets and we were like ‘OK, this is good, we have found someone pretty special here’.”
Rauf was so fast and fearsome in the nets, Handscomb, who has faced the likes of speedsters Mitch Starc, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson, opted to bat elsewhere.
“I watched him bowl to someone else first and then decided not to face him in the nets,” he said.
“He’s one hell of a find. His raw pace is something special.”
Rauf has only played three of the Stars six matches because of the rules which restrict the use of overseas players, but hastaken 10 wickets.
Steyn’s departure and an injury to Englishman Pat Brown, which has ruled him out of the rest of the tournament, has now opened the door for Rauf to take a permanent place in the team.
“I think it’s huge for him, potentially life-changing, he’s come out on the world stage and performed straight away and performedreally, really well,” Handscomb said.
“It could be the beginning of something pretty special for him and I hope it is.”
Wednesday night’s MCG showdown with the Sydney Thunder will be the last for Handscomb and spinner Adam Zampa before they head to India with the Australian one-day squad.
The pair will however be back in time for the finals and with five wins from six games, plus the ongoing availability of captain Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis, the Stars are well placed to get to the playoffs again
“Through non-selection (for Australia), our Stars squad remains quite strong,” Handscomb said.
“But we also pride ourselves on having a deep squad. We’ve lost international players in previous years and still pretty muchmade the finals every year. International selections can hurt but I feel like we are in a pretty good place regardless.”
Brown, who is in England’s ODI and T20 squads, had been training with the Stars for the past month and was in line to make his debut on Wednesday night.
But an X-ray has revealed that Brown has a stress fracture in his back.
The blow makes the Stars’ last-minute signing of Rauf an even more genius move.
The Pakistani was parachuted in when Steyn arrived in Melbourne carrying a side strain injury and became an instant force, picking up 10 wickets in three matches.
Rauf was playing grade cricket in Hobart last month, but when Steyn was ruled out of the season-opener Cricket Victoria’s Nick Cummins put the 150km speed demon on the Stars’ radar.
Cross-town rival Renegades were privately miffed that they weren’t alerted to Rauf, particularly when their import, Harry Gurney, went down with a torn hamstring.
Renegades played with just one international, Richard Gleeson, when they were smashed by Stars in Saturday night’s derby at the MCG.
— with Sam Landsberger