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Peter Handscomb’s dire form may have opened the door for one of Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne or Kurtis Patterson to make their Test debut next month against Pakistan.
Handscomb failed in both innings of Australia A’s 98-run win against India A this week and has now made just 226 runs at 19 in his last seven first-class matches.
That paltry average is helped by an unbeaten ton in the Sheffield Shield in February, with his other 12 scores in that time reading: 0, 8, 0, 24, 0, 5, 0, 36, 12, 14, 0, 13.
Handscomb also made scores of 2 and 2 in his only knocks last month for Australia A in the one-day quadrangular tournament. The 27-year-old is an incumbent in the Test team, having been recalled for the final Test in South Africa after Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned over the ball tampering scandal.
But Australia now have a new head coach and selector in Justin Langer, and Handscomb is unlikely to be an automatic pick for the first Test in the UAE in a month from now unless he makes runs in India.
Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
The right hander has just two innings, at most, for Australia A in which to make his case for Test selection.
As I wrote this week, I think the selectors will already have locked in five members of the top six to play Pakistan, with Matt Renshaw and Usman Khawaja opening, Shaun Marsh at three, and Mitch Marsh and Glenn Maxwell in the middle order.
Leading in to this ‘A’ tour Handscomb would have been the frontunner to take the final spot in that batting unit due to his incumbency and the positive signs he showed in last year’s Tests in India.
But after four consecutive failures across both formats on this tour his position is highly vulnerable. Handscomb was dropped from the Test team during last summer’s Ashes after the English seamers picked apart his unusual technique.
Since then he has showed no clear indications he has either honed his technique or regained form.
Meanwhile, the likes of Head, Labuschagne and Patterson all have pushed their cases for Test selection.
Head yesterday top scored for Australia A in their second innings, making 87 from 162 balls. While I’m still unconvinced Head has a tight enough technique to prosper in Tests, he’s long seemed on the fast track to securing a baggy green.
The 24-year-old also has good form behind him. Head has scored 1,383 runs at 45 over the last two Sheffield Shield seasons, and has averaged 42 with the bat across his past 25 ODIs.
He was also named the Sheffield Shield Player of the Year for the 2015-16 season. Head’s generous experience in international cricket (55 limited overs matches) would also appeal to the Test selectors.
Counting against the left hander is his often leaden-footed and clumsy play against spin, which is particularly relevant given the way Pakistan’s tweakers ran amok the last time Australia toured the UAE.
Patterson, meanwhile, has long been consistent without being spectacular at first-class level, which may explain why he hasn’t attracted as much hype as other domestic batsmen.
Over the last three years, Patterson has made 2,368 runs at 45 in first-class cricket. His biggest issue has been a Joe-Root like inability to convert 50s to hundreds, having made 18 half centuries and just three tons in that time, across 34 matches.
There’s a sense that the dam wall will break for Patterson sooner or later and he will start churning out the run of big scores which earn players Test selection.
Batting out of position as an opener for Australia A he’s made scores of 31 and 13 in the current match. Patterson will need to improve on that significantly in the second match if he is to vault into the Test team next month.
Kurtis Patterson (AAP Image/Daniel Pockett)
Labuschagne, meanwhile, is the biggest bolter for Test selection, having initially been overlooked for this current A series only to be called up as cover for the injured Renshaw.
He started the tour of India well, with a knock of 62 in the win over South Africa A in the 50-over tournament.
Then he exploited his unexpected chance in the first four-day match by playing two valuable knocks. In the first innings Australia A were in a mess at 4 for 90 when Labuschagne came to the crease and made 60 from 105 balls, guiding his side to a competitive total of 243.
Then in the second innings, Australia A were four wickets down with a modest lead of 101 when Labuschagne arrived in the middle. His knock of 37 from 67 balls yesterday helped Australia A set their opponents a challenging chase.
While there is no available footage of this match, Labuschagne reportedly has looked comfortable and assured against spin, just as he did in the one-day series.
A gritty middle order batsman, Labuschagne was the second leading runscorer in the Shield last summer, with 795 runs at 40. Even still, he would be an unexpected pick to make his Test debut against Pakistan.
The continued struggles of Handscomb mean that Australia may well hand a Test cap to a young batsman next month.