Peter Handscomb silences the technique haters with glorious maiden Test ton

WITH a batting technique that defies all cricket logic, many good judges questioned if Peter Handscomb would ‘make it’. A Test average of 160 has surely silenced the haters.

Peter Handscomb at the Gabba.

PETER Handscomb’s maiden Test century at the Gabba was a victory for difference.

The Victorian, reared on the suburban streets of Mount Waverley, plundered the Pakistanis with a batting technique that raised eyebrows when he first appeared in Adelaide and continued to bristle them in Brisbane.

Both feet deep in his crease, bat raised to his ear after a wrist cock that points the edge, not the face, at the bowler in the first instance, with a big gap between bat and pad in defence shouldn’t work.

But Handscomb, nicknamed “Hank” by plenty of his teammates, and “Brush” by a few others, now averages 160 in Test cricket — so there.

The son of an English off-spinner, but born at the Box Hill hospital, was always awesomely talented but also a long-time fiddler with his technique.

When he returned from a stint at the Cricket Academy in 2014, then Victorian coach Greg Shipperd noticed yet another change.

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It wasn’t quite a line in the sand moment, but from Shipperd’s perspective Handscomb’s inconsistent batting routine was going to lead to inconsistent run scoring. And given how much potential was at stake a decision was required.

Handscomb salutes after notching his maiden Test ton at the Gabba.

“There are all sorts of schools of thought around starting from the toes, starting from the hips, or indeed like he is, with the bat at attention up near his ear in ready position,” Shipperd told the Herald Sun.

“He chose for that to be his method, and he is a really thoughtful young cricketer and he felt it gave him balance and time and a good look at the ball.

“Ultimately when you do look at batters I can’t remember one I have seen who looks exactly the same as the next bloke.

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“They all have different timing, different starting points. You are looking for all that to add up to good movement and timing for the result and those results indicate whether you have a good formula or not.

“And you would say his formula at this point of time is working nicely for him.”

Veteran Victorian batsman David Hussey, who retired from state cricket last season but remains on the Bushrangers staff, wasn’t sure the Handscomb way was the right way when he first saw it.

Handscomb uses his feet beautifully to spin. Picture Sarah Reed

“The reason why he bats so deep in his crease is so that he gets more time to play the ball. That’s the theory,” Hussey, also Handscomb’s captain at the Melbourne Stars Big Bash outfit said.

“I had a problem with it initially, but once you hear the theory and understand it fully, as long as he stops a good ball, can hit a bad ball, and it doesn’t stop him driving or cutting the ball, it should be fine.

“Everybody needs to get used to people batting differently these days. Players now can hit the ball to every part of the field and Peter is one of them.”

The way Handscomb lofted Pakistan leg-spinner Yasih Shah over long on for six yesterday, to move from 91 to 97, drew gasps from the commentary box. He did it so easily.

But he’d been smashing spinners since he was a kid, namely his father John, who died last year.

John bowled in the minor counties in England, and his brother James, 22 years his senior was a one-time district level leggie himself.

Handscomb sits very deep in his crease to fast bowlers.

James also played for St Kilda Cricket Club, where Handscomb aligned himself, and where his capacity to play the slow bowlers earned early plaudits.

“He was a head-turner from day one, ball one facing spin the day he first walked in to the squad,” Shipperd said.

“He was a unique player of spin in terms of how comfortable he was and how aggressive he was in using his feet and getting down the wicket.

“A lot of players play with power and hit the ball hard from the crease, but he changes lengths quite dramatically and counterpunches spin by his dancing feet.

“And he has no fear of one going past the outside edge. He’s going to score a lot of runs before that seesaw goes against him.”

Shipperd said Handscomb should be a certainty for a long stint in the Test team and is the sort of player Australia cannot be without when they hit the subcontinent to play India in February.

In fact, Handscomb could be the most important man there.

“I’ve been alarmed by the amount of spin I have seen during India and England series,” Shipperd said.

“But if anyone has a capacity to play in those conditions and score at the same time, it’s him.”