Mental is everything for in-form Handscomb

A confident Peter Handscomb has preached the powers of mental preparation as the Yorkshire signing looks to continue his good one-day form against Northamptonshire on Wednesday night.

Despite being overlooked for Australia's Champions Trophy squad for next month's tournament in England, Handscomb has hit his straps in the 50-over game and is currently the leading run-scorer in the domestic one-day cup.

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Those 407 runs have been made at 101.75 and at a strike-rate of 113.37, with a pair of fifties and a maiden List A hundred – a thrilling 140 in Yorkshire's victory over Derbyshire on Sunday, which included six sixes.

"It was nice to tick off a first List A ton," Handscomb told radio station RSN927. "I'm feeling good over here, trying to enjoy my time as much as possible.

"I'm feeling good – my movement is great, and I'm going out there with a lot of confidence at the moment.

"I'm just really trying to hold onto that feeling for as long as I can and more than anything make sure I'm mentally ready for every game and backing my skills in."

Handscomb debuted for Australia in ODIs in January off the back of a stellar introduction to Test cricket against South Africa and Pakistan, in which he made two centuries in his first four matches in Baggy Green.

Despite a moderate record for Victoria in the 50-over game, he began with an impressive 82 on ODI debut but was unable to continue his strong run of form when the Australians headed to New Zealand for three matches – a series in which he also donned the wicketkeeping gloves.

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In England, he's had a rebirth against the white ball, after Rising Pune Supergiant agreed to release him from an IPL contract the batsman believed would see him spend much of his time warming the bench.

Through his meteoric rise, Handscomb has learned the value of mental readiness as opposed to the inflexibility of a regimented approach to training.  

"It's funny how my preparation has changed over the last three years once I started figuring out my own game," he said.  

"It used to be very structured with Victoria, I had to have certain hit-up in the morning before games.

"Now when you travel the world, in different conditions, with different training facilities in each ground you go to, it's just get what you can and be in a good space mentally more than anything.

"Especially with county season, it can be one way or other; if you get yourself onto a bit of a roll, because there is so much cricket, you can actually find yourself really good out in the middle and hopefully converting that into runs.

"But on the flipside, you don't get a lot of time to practice if you are out of form – if you're having a tough time in the middle you don't get any time to work on it and figure something out."

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For now, that's not an issue for the unorthodox right-hander, and while Handscomb is well aware that every purple patch ultimately comes to an end, he's also enjoying the benefits of plying his trade through the Australian off-season, much as he did in 2016 when he led Australia A against India A in Queensland.

After impressing in that series, he quickly began to figure in national calculations and, after a double-century against NSW in the Sheffield Shield, was catapulted into the Test team.

"The job is to make runs every time you go out to bat, and the second you start thinking the batting becomes easy, the complacency can set in," he added.

"When I have been able to play cricket over the Australian winter I've been able to come back and hit the ground running during the Australian summer.

"It's a lot nicer than just running a track or hitting the gym three times a week.

"It's good to constantly play cricket and time in the middle is so valuable and so much better than just hitting balls in the nets."