Just before 11am on Tuesday, 20-year-old Matthew Renshaw walked off the Sydney Cricket Ground to a standing ovation after scoring 184, his maiden Test century. He crossed paths with Hilton Cartwright, 24, entering the Test arena for the first time. Waiting for Cartwright in the middle was Peter Handscomb, a 25-year-old with a Test batting average, at that point, of 99.33. Cartwright stepped into his first delivery and drove it firmly to the boundary. This is renewal.
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Handscomb gets himself out in bizarre fashion
After scoring an excellent century Peter Handscomb was out hit wicket.
In November, Renshaw, Handscomb and Cartwright were hardly even on the reserve list for the Australian cricket team, and to foretell that they would be the lead actors of the second day of the Sydney Test match would have been to invite the attention of men in white coats, and not the umpiring kind.
Cartwright's image is still coming into focus, but Renshaw has already solidified as the patient, orthodox opening batsman with a long future in the Australian team. And Handscomb, who went on to record his second century in his fourth Test match, has happened upon the summer's cricket like some kind of Ziggy Stardust, with screwed-up eyes and screwed-down hairdo, the special man who can lick 'em by smiling.
His innings had begun, on Tuesday, in the shadow of a shadow. Renshaw had come out from behind the breathtaking David Warner, and Handscomb quietly built his foundations behind Renshaw's expansion. With 40 to his name as Wednesday got under way, Handscomb had a guarantee of success. We don't yet know how he copes with failure in Test cricket, as he has dealt with the issue by not failing. Stationed with both feet behind his crease, Handscomb went about his patented method, opening the bat face with that weird single tap, waiting, waiting, playing chicken with the ball before tucking it nonchalantly to leg or back-cutting it off the tip of his off-bail.
It is a technique that children in the SCG were already imitating, before going back to school when their coaches will undoubtedly rub it out of them again. If he is a mad scientist of batting, Handscomb has certainly thought through every aspect and every angle.
One of the most enjoyable things about watching him is the reminder that this old game still has endless room for variation. Technique has no binding laws.
Another part of Handscomb's appeal is his restless search to score. Playing so deep will likely bring him undone in trickier conditions against better bowlers, but as long as he maintains his attitude that batting is about run-making, it is possible to see him thinking his way through the challenges that arise. A year or five from now, who knows what his style will look like, but let's hope that his attitude to his craft is fixed.
![Perfect pair: Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb pose with the SCG Honour Board.](/web/20170104201937im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/m/1/0/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtm0c1.png/1483518957047.jpg)
Handscomb's 91-run, 30-over partnership with Cartwright was the day's prime entertainment. Cartwright, solidly built along Ross Taylor lines, was a portrait of balance, organisation and right-angles. Using a Bradbury bat, he might have surged into the team for Sydney as the last all-rounder standing, but he capitalised on the forgiving conditions and settled into his work nicely.
His wobbly moments came against Yasir Shah's spin. Comfortable playing from the crease, he had heart in mouth when he left it. His eventual dismissal was to a good ball from Imran Khan, but the sense is that high-quality spin bowling will be Cartwright's big test.
There were no doubts when Handscomb danced down to the spinners. Like the best Australian players of slow bowling, such as Allan Border and Michael Clarke, Handscomb comes down the pitch to defend as well as attack. His one glaring error, in a 319-minute innings, was to give a stumping chance on Tuesday, but Sarfraz Ahmed can hardly be blamed. This is another skill of the good player of spin: to leave the keeper in a state of diminished hope.
![Magic moment: Renshaw salutes the crowd.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170104201937im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/l/f/4/7/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1483427523683.png)
Magic moment: Renshaw salutes the crowd. Photo: AP
When he raised his century, Handscomb democratically raised his bat and thanked all parts of the ground. No special thrusts to teammates or loved ones.
Everyone was applauding him, and he acknowledged them equally. He is going to be a popular player for a long time.
To underline how watchable he is, even Handscomb's dismissal was something to remember. Backing away to square drive Wahab Riaz, he did a sort of Handscomb-squared, going so far back and putting himself so on-side that he tickled his stumps. As the ball sped away, nobody noticed the fallen bail except Wahab, who trudged down the wicket as if to say he would take what he could get. It seemed a bizarre dismissal, but Handscomb gets out as he bats, uniquely, and this will this will not be the last time. Like his young teammates, he is inventing a new normal each day.
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