{"id":468540,"date":"2026-02-09T13:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/468540\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T13:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:31:13","slug":"peter-handscomb-eyes-test-return-stats-batting-contenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/468540\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Handscomb eyes Test return, stats, batting contenders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Victoria\u2019s \u201cchameleon\u201d hasn\u2019t given up hope.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Handscomb is aspiring for another crack at Test level and is confident he has evolved into more than a prolific player of spin.<\/p>\n<p>Get all the latest cricket news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/newsletter-sign-up?utm_source=CricketArticle&amp;utm_medium=TextLink&amp;utm_campaign=signup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Handscomb, 34, made an unbeaten 90 in the One Day Cup against Queensland and backed it up with a gritty half-century on the bowler-dominated opening day of the teams\u2019 Sheffield Shield match on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Australia has a rare vacancy in the middle order after Usman Khawaja retired at the end of the 4-1 Ashes triumph.<\/p>\n<p>Handscomb knows how difficult it is to get into the Aussie side, having played 20 Tests, but won\u2019t stop challenging the selectors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean I\u2019ve still got aspirations, I\u2019m working my arse off to play and do everything I can to go to the next level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Handscomb averages nearly 40 at Test level. Picture: Josh Chadwick\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut there\u2019s also got to be openings, there\u2019s got to be spots and the way the Australian team is going at the moment is pretty good, coming off a 4-1 win, top of the Test championship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt can be hard to break into sometimes but I am still trying my hardest to do it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not just a player of spin, I like to think I can play seam movement as well, so if there\u2019s an opportunity ever in Australia or wherever, not just the subcontinent, I\u2019d love to have a crack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Handscomb would be taking guard in Australia\u2019s next Test against Bangladesh later this year if Victorian fast bowler Sam Elliott had a say.<\/p>\n<p>Elliott says Handscomb is the Vics\u2019 \u201cchameleon\u201d for his ability to find a way in any circumstance.<\/p>\n<p>Handscomb dragged Victoria back into the game after a 5-11 start. Picture: Kelly Defina\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMate he\u2019s so good, he\u2019s batting unbelievable at the moment,\u201d Elliott said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s been a little bit of talk around the Test stuff and I think if the spot does come up, I personally can\u2019t look past him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAge is just a number and he\u2019s shown that consistently over the past however many years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn any situation, obviously a terrific player against spin, but I think he\u2019s added so many different layers to him game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe call him the chameleon because he just adapts to every situation, I think hopefully more of the same from Pete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Victoria is still top of the Sheffield Shield table despite a second loss of the season to Queensland on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria\u2019s \u201cchameleon\u201d hasn\u2019t given up hope. Peter Handscomb is aspiring for another crack at Test level and is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1724,64,63,689,56263,13047,239426,1950,1208,2057,2105,239423,647,3583,677,132500,701,239425,60370,209250,12540,85,239424,64414,70541,660],"class_list":["post-468540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-team","tag-bangladesh","tag-bowler-dominated-opening-day","tag-cricket-news","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-last-ball-thriller","tag-melbourne","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-peter-handscomb","tag-queensland","tag-rare-vacancy","tag-sam-elliott","tag-seam-movement","tag-southern-asia","tag-sports","tag-star-hits","tag-tyler-lewis","tag-usman-khawaja","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}