Top Shield batter Handscomb in frame for Asia Test recall

Victoria's in-form skipper Peter Handscomb may be considered one of the country's better players of spin bowling, but he says he tries not to let his mind wander to a potential Test recall with a subcontinent heavy schedule ahead for Australia.

The 30-year-old was the leading run scorer in the Marsh Sheffield Shield this season with 697 runs at 49.78, which included 80 in the final against Western Australia, and his 1,208 runs at 48.32 in the past two seasons make him the fifth most prolific across the competition.

Travis Head's struggles on foreign pitches (he averages 27.21 in 16 innings away from home compared to 49.87 in Australia) again became a discussion point during the Benaud-Qadir series in Pakistan where he averaged 22.66 with a top score of 26 in the batter-dominated three-match series.

Should Australian selectors opt to go for a horses for courses approach, Handscomb along with teammate Nic Maddinson, who Victorian coach Chris Rogers believes is also suited to subcontinent conditions, could be in contention for the touring party.

Australia is due to play a two-match Test series in Sri Lanka in June and July this year before touring India next February/March.

In his five Tests in Asia, including two in the UAE in 2019, Head has 190 runs at 27.14, while Handscomb has 344 runs at a marginally higher 34.40 in six matches on spin-friendly pitches in India and Bangladesh.

Handscomb, who last played Test cricket against India in Sydney in January 2019, told cricket.com.au he would "absolutely love" to play for Australia again.

"Everyone wants to play at that highest level, but I try not to let the mind wander," he said.

"If that opportunity comes up again, then happy days but first and foremost, I've got to concentrate on what's happening in front of me."

Following Victoria's defeat to WA in the Shield final, Handscomb will head to England where he will resume his stint with Middlesex as the club's captain in the County Championship.

Maddinson, who is the Sheffield Shield's fourth most prolific run scorer since he joined Victoria four seasons ago with 2,261 at 59.50, appears to be the next batter in-line along with Matthew Renshaw for a Test squad call-up after the pair were named as standby players for the Pakistan tour.

"I thought he was a smokey to go on one of those (subcontinent) tours and I hope he still is because I think if he did, he'd be one of the bats more suited to those conditions," Rogers said of Maddinson following his second century of the Shield season in February.

"His composure is something that is standing out and his maturity. It's a credit to him, he's just getting better and better and his play against spin is outstanding."

It's been a record-breaking Shield season for Handscomb in the field, with his 27 catches the most in a Sheffield Shield season in the 120-year history of the competition, which goes alongside his record for the most in a single match when he took nine against Tasmania last month.

"I mean, that's not on me, that's on the bowlers," he said when asked about the record.

"You don't get a catching record without the bowlers doing the right stuff, so the boys have been putting the ball in the right places all year and I've just been lucky enough that I'm standing in a catching spot so they've gone to me.

"It's not something you try and aim for or anything like that but credit to our bowlers for creating chances.

"There's no such thing as an easy catch but we train really hard with our catching and if you drop them, you drop them, but hopefully you just try and catch as many you can."