Forgotten Test batter Peter Handscomb has sent a timely message to selectors with a big double century in the Sheffield Shield.
Peter Handscomb : Double Century | Sheffield Shield
Peter Stephen Patrick Handscomb is an Australian cricketer who is the current captain for the Victoria cricket team.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name |
Peter Stephen Patrick Handscomb
|
| Born | 26 April 1991 Box Hill, Victoria, Australia |
| Nickname | Hank |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Batting | Right-handed |
| Bowling | Right-arm off break |
| Role | Batsman |
He plays as a middle-order batsman and occasional wicketkeeper. Handscomb has played for Australia in Test matches, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals and in the Australian Big Bash League for Hobart Hurricanes.
Having spent the 2011 season playing English club cricket for Tring Park, as well as several matches for Leicestershire County Cricket Club in the Second XI Championship, Handscomb debuted for Victoria during the 2011–12 Australian season, playing as a top-order batsman.
Peter Handscomb Double Century
Handscomb whacked the third biggest score for Victoria since World War II – and the state’s seventh highest Shield score ever – with 281 not out against Western Australia in Melbourne.
As the team’s captain, he selflessly chose to declare the innings rather than chase an elusive triple-century.
Handscomb also passed up the opportunity to run down Brad Hodge’s 286 not-out in the 2007 season, and Dean Jones’ 324 not-out in 1994-95. Handscomb’s score is the highest in the Shield since Liam Davis hit 303 in 2011-12.
His heroics lifted Victoria to 4-616 declared, putting the heat on WA at Junction Oval.
Handscomb, 31, was regarded as one of Australia’s next big things when he was brought into the Test team in 2016 to play against South Africa.
He scored a half-century on debut, and the next series he scored two tons against Pakistan, but that was where his impressive Test performances would largely end.
He was axed after the 2018-19 series against India and has not been seen in the Test arena since.
His Test average sits at 38.91 from 16 matches, which betters his first-class average of 37.71.
Handscomb is no chance to push any of the incumbent Test batters – Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Cameron Green – out of the team this summer, barring injuries.
Sheffield Shield
Peter Handscomb has hit the highest Sheffield Shield score in a decade in a record partnership with Sam Harper against the defending champions at Junction Oval.
Peter Handscomb has compiled the highest individual Sheffield Shield score in more than a decade as Victoria continued to pile on the runs against Western Australia at the Junction Oval.
Not since Western Australian Liam Davis piled on 303no versus NSW in February 2012 has Australia’s domestic first-class competition seen an individual score the scale of Handscomb’s unbeaten 281 today.
It was a new career best for the Victoria skipper, going past his previous best of 215 against NSW at the SCG in November 2016, keeping his name top of mind for national selectors with five Tests against the West Indies and South Africa this summer and a four-match tour of India early next year.
The 31-year-old was part of a Victorian record fifth-wicket partnership of 338 with Sam Harper, who also finished unbeaten on 132 as the hosts declared at 4-616 at lunch on day four with a lead of 150.
Their fifth-wicket partnership bettered the previous Victorian mark of 316 set by Grant Gardiner and Laurie Harper in 1997. The competition’s overall record fifth-wicket stand remains the 464no put on by bothers Steve and Mark Waugh in 1990.
Handscomb’s decision to declare meant he missed out on the chance of becoming the 15th player to post a Shield triple century, and the 19th in the competition’s history (Bradman and Ponsford scored three apiece).
As it stands, Handscomb’s marathon knock (from 367 balls with 23 fours and seven sixes) ranks equal 22nd among the all-time top Sheffield Shield scores and is the seventh-highest for Victoria.