One last time: Battle of fringe players ft. Ashton Turner and Peter Handscomb
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'Here, football is a daily part of life,' said Ben Kingsley when he opened narration for Man City's documentary ‘All or Nothing'. And for Australia, the line ‘Here, cricket is a daily part of life,’ raises the amplitude of criticism, with critics nitpicking every fault through the narrow lenses.
When Australia announced the ODI squad against India, which included Ashton Turner and Peter Handscomb, critics were aplenty, questioning how a team could pick two players who were out of form. Last year, same month, the duo made a name for themselves in the foreign and alienated turfs in India against a crowd that had speakers instead of a voicebox. The two had outshone beyond the possible realm of expectations set by the Australian selectors, the management and, moreover, the fans, who took the game ever so seriously.
Post that, immediately, the duo were crowned for their jewelled effort in India against India. However, all of that came crashing down like a stack of cards on a windy day. Only one of them was amongst the plans for the Cricket World Cup after the return of Steve Smith and David Warner. That was Peter Handscomb, who was slotted straight into the line-up for the semi-final clash against England, a move which back-fired pretty much instantly. While Handscomb was the only survivor from a pack of two he too was in shambles on the Judgement day.
“Face what I deserve, here comes JUDGEMENT DAY! I won't run, the guilt is mine,” could be defined as Handcomb's efforts in Australia’s tainted semi-final, the only time they lost in one, that too against England. Australia moved on from that and stayed back in England with blood-bath still waiting in the shed against them. 11 hours ahead of them and 15,195 km away from The Oval, where Australia were already busy celebrating their Ashes victory. The duo, meanwhile, were toiling in the summer sweating to crack their way back into the national team.
The result, a seat on the plane to India for the three-match ODI series and at the cost of who? Incumbent Glenn Maxwell and the before-Big-Bash-League struggling Marcus Stoinis. Two capable all-rounders, who could bat, bowl and definitely cover every blade of the grass when it mattered. Both of them were dropped ahead of the India series in December for the inclusion of Turner and Handscomb.
On what basis? Past record against India, more specifically, Turner’s match-winning knock at Mohali, in the same game where Handscomb made his name too. Easy to take a guess on who failed in the same game! Glenn Maxwell. Could that have been a determining factor? No, because Maxwell was supposed to make his comeback to cricket in the Big Bash and thus they kept him out.
83 and 86 runs scored in 11 games, that is all Handscomb and Turner could score combined in the on-going edition of the Big Bash in contrast to 316 runs in the nine innings that one individual, Maxwell had scored in the season. Let’s look at another all-rounder, who’s literally ‘turned’ his season around- Mitchell Marsh.
First, he broke the wickets in England, second, he broke his wrist with a punch and after the series of unfortunate events, he cracked open multiple pieces of the leather ball with his English-made Gray-Nicolls. In ten games, the younger Marsh has scored 354 runs, at an average of 44.25, and has picked up four wickets when he got the opportunity to have a go at the batsmen. A similar prototype, Marsh and Turner. While one has succeeded beyond expectations in the Big Bash, the other has struggled for most periods during the league and has only used his bat thus far, unlike Marsh.
This is just the first line of people who can replace the duo, with talented youngsters like Beau Webster and Josh Phillippe still waiting for their turns in the shed. While Philippe turned the screws around early in the season with his swashbuckling ‘more-than-you’ fancy batting, Melbourne Renegades’ only shining light this season- Beau Webster - outshone all of his batting patriots with some sublime hitting, more than what Turner had done in his international career, minus Mohali. The only conversation that might tilt the balance in Turner’s favour would be if he bowled, and he has not done that in such a long time, since his injury post the India series.
On the other hand, so much emphasis is given on what Turner has to offer that people tend to forget that Peter Handscomb has been picked as the backup wicket-keeper who has to bat when given the opportunity. Has he done justice to his selection? No! Has he played well in the Big Bash? No. Yet, he continues to keep chipping away with a place in the national team.
If you are telling me that you have not heard of the name or seen the game of the young-kid Philippe, you ought to be kidding or you might just be too ignorant to admit that the kid has got it in him to strike the ball sweetly. So if the second-string substitutes are this strong, it is just time before the likes of Turner and Handscomb are buried down under the list which would take them months or probably years before the talks of a comeback make the rounds.
Their careers, however, will come crashing down if they perform badly in the series against India and with Australia hosting the T20 World Cup, it would make it even worse for them to see the likes of Maxwell, Stoinis and Webster performing who, with time, would take their place in the playing XI. Perhaps worse, their relevance in the national team might be reduced to the playing time that Mesut Ozil got under the Spanish manager Unai Emery. And if they did work their way out, they would feature at some point or the other in the future, but it will take them months, if not years!
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