'The Don' or wrong: Handscomb's fine line

Glenn Maxwell has dismissed concerns over the form of his Victoria and Melbourne Stars teammate Peter Handscomb, insisting the technique that's been highly-scrutinised and labelled "unusual" over the first two Magellan Ashes Tests is the same one that saw him compared to Don Bradman last summer.

Handscomb has managed tallies of 14, 36 and 12 in Australia's victories in Brisbane and Adelaide, with speculation mounting he could be the one to make way for allrounder Mitchell Marsh should the hosts seek an extra bowling option on a flat WACA wicket.

The Victorian stormed onto the international scene last season following Australia's mass cleanout in the wake of their series defeat to South Africa, notching two tons against Pakistan and after his first four Tests held the Bradmanesque batting average of 99.75.

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While much has been said and written about his unconventional technique, which often sees Handscomb stand with both feet behind the popping crease and play back to balls most others would go forward to, Maxwell explained how it works in his favour. 

"I've noticed it a lot having batted with him a fair bit. What he did in the Test I've seen a fair bit of even in first-class cricket," Maxwell told cricket.com.au.

"He gets into a position where he thinks he can blunt the bowlers' plan to try and get him out. He backs his defence from that position.

"The thing with Pete, because he's got such good hand-eye coordination, it doesn’t matter so much about his footwork because he's able to adjust with his hands a lot of the time.

"It's probably why it makes him such a good player of spin. His hands are exceptional and he's able to manipulate the ball into different areas in the field. He tried to do that against the quicks as well.

"I'm sure he's going to come out the other side of this and still prosper and still make a lot of runs for Australia.

"We saw last summer how successful he was, he was being compared to Don Bradman at the end of the last Test series. I think he's going to come back and prosper."

Maxwell added that although Handscomb's approach might not always look pretty, his mental toughness will help him bounce back with a big score.

"He did have a couple of tough periods (in Adelaide) against the England attack when they had the ball moving around, both in the air and off the wicket," he continued.

"But he got through the night session both times and I thought that was a credit to him.

"It might not have looked pretty but one thing he does have is mental toughness to get through those stages."

Of Handscomb's three dismissal in the series so far, two have been lbws where he's been trapped on the crease by full deliveries.

The right-hander has previously explained that he feels fast bowlers, encouraged by seeing him so deep in his crease, tend to "float" the ball up fuller than they normally would and provide him with scoring opportunities.

While his form has been far from disastrous, his place in the Test side has come under the microscope as Australia ponder whether their four-man bowling attack – impressive as they've been through the first two Tests – will suffice in Perth, where bat has overwhelmingly dominated ball in recent Tests and JLT Sheffield Shield matches.

But Victoria coach Andrew McDonald implored selectors to retain Handscomb, labelling question marks over his spot as "hype" and casting doubt over Marsh's batting ability.

"Pete's averaging 47.35 after 12 Tests. He's also been on the subcontinent; not many players come back with an average like that intact," McDonald told Fairfax.

"It's a bit of hype, to be honest. He's had three hits, if you thought he was good enough leading into the first Test I'd imagine going into the third Test 2-0 up you would probably (still) be in that side.

"A top six batter averaging 47 versus a potential change with another batter. What's Mitch Marsh averaging – 21? It would be a huge call. Runs are the key for anyone playing in the top six batters.

"I'd imagine (selectors will opt for) an unchanged line-up leading into that Test match."

Marsh holds a batting average of 21.74 from 21 Tests but has struck 402 runs at 44.66 in 10 innings for Western Australia this Shield season with scores of 38 not out, 43, 11, 141, 28 and 95 in his five most recent innings.

The right-armer also recently returned to the bowling crease following shoulder surgery over the winter.

During the second Test, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting expressed concern over Handscomb and what he termed an "unusual" technique.

"If he's always done it and that's the technique he wants to stick with that's fine, but when you see him start moving his feet like he did today; one ball (he was) two feet outside off stump, the next ball outside leg stump, that's going to make batting pretty difficult," Ponting told cricket.com.au on day four.

"There's going to be a few things there that need to be changed as far as I'm concerned.

"If he keeps moving around like he does and moving back in front of his stumps it just looks like he's making batting more difficult for himself.

"Even the fact that he's not scoring off the front foot, one thing you have to be able to do in Test cricket is score off the front foot, especially in conditions where the ball is moving, the majority of the deliveries are going to be front-foot deliveries.

"Let's hope he can address it quickly and he can get back into some sort of touch before the next Test."

2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Australia won by 120 runs (Day-Night). Scorecard

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21