New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Former Australian cricketer and current Victoria coach Chris Rogers has endorsed Peter Handscomb as the best candidate to take over the No. 4 batting position in Tests once veteran Steve Smith retires.

Speaking to Fox Cricket’s Domesticated, Rogers believes that when Smith eventually retires, the national selectors will not need to look any further than Handscomb for a strong replacement.

”If he got the chance again, I think he’d be much better prepared,” Rogers said of Handscomb. “If Smith was to retire and there was that opportunity needed for a stable Test No. 4, I think that could definitely be Pete. Hopefully he keeps scoring runs for us and things play out and he gets another opportunity to get Test level,” he added.

Rogers also stated that the Victorian veteran deserves another chance in international cricket and noted that Handscomb is a much better batter than he was eight years ago.

“He doesn’t get the credit that he deserves. There’s always that perception that he’s exactly the same player he was when he played Test cricket, but I’ve seen his growth. He’s gone away and understood that the style of batting he had when he played Test cricket probably wasn’t going to stand up, and it took him a while to get rid of the stubbornness around that, but since then, he’s been so open to a different style.

“If you go and watch that hundred he got against Starc and Hazlewood, you’ll see it’s a very different model. Just how he looked to get forward, he looked to punch back into the ball. He wasn’t just standing on the back foot behind the crease line. It’s a game plan that would do pretty well in international cricket,” he said.

Handscomb, who played 20 Tests for Australia between 2016 and 2023, is currently the Sheffield Shield’s second-highest run-scorer with 350 runs at 43.75. He was named captain for the two-day pink-ball match in Canberra starting from November 29, which serves as key preparation under lights ahead of the day-night Test at the Gabba.

Last week, Handscomb scored a century against a bowling attack that included Test stars Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon in Victoria’s 300-run victory over NSW at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The 34-year-old batter, who made his international debut against South Africa in 2016 and scored two hundreds in his first four Tests, last played for Australia during the 2023 India Test tour. He was expected to feature in Australia’s squad for the recent Test tour of Sri Lanka but missed selection.

–IANS

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