After intense speculation, Australia’s selectors have named four uncapped players in the squad for the Adelaide Test. Here’s what you may or may not know about the quartet.
Brydon Coverdale20-Nov-20163:01
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Matt Renshaw, 20At the age of 20, Renshaw will be the second-youngest specialist batsman to make his Test debut for Australia in the past 30 years. The only one younger was Phillip Hughes.He was born in Yorkshire and lived in England until the age of 7, before moving to New Zealand, and then at the age of 10 to Australia. The family had not yet moved to Australia at the time of the 2005 Ashes, and Renshaw recalls at the time dreaming of one day playing for England.He and Joe Root are old family friends. Their fathers – Ian Renshaw and Matt Root – were team-mates in the first XI at Sheffield Collegiate, and the two sons would sometimes play together on the outfield after matches. “I ended up doing most of the batting,” said Renshaw, who is five years younger than Root.At the age of 8, Renshaw – then living in New Zealand – attended the inaugural T20 international between Australia and New Zealand in Auckland. “But I could never really hit those big balls because of my size,” he said earlier this year “I always loved Test cricket.”Last summer, he became the youngest man ever to score a Sheffield Shield century for Queensland, when he knuckled down on a slow and challenging Mackay pitch to score 170 from 395 balls. From just 12 first-class games he has 1021 runs at 44.39, with three centuries. He is yet to make his T20 debut, but can hit big balls too, and has struck 18 sixes in first-class cricket.Peter Handscomb, who scored 215 in the Sheffield Shield this week, was part of Australia’s ODI squad in England last year, but did not play a game•Getty ImagesPeter Handscomb, 25He too is the holder of a British passport. However, unlike Renshaw, Handscomb was born in Australia to English parents.As a teenager, he was a talented junior tennis player and took part in tournaments that featured Bernard Tomic among the seeds. He was also a fine soccer player, but chose cricket over all other sports.Cricket is in Handscomb’s blood. His father John and his grandfather Sidney both played minor counties cricket in England, and his half-brother James was a legspinner who played for the Victoria Second XI in the early 1990s.Since the start of last summer, nobody has scored more Sheffield Shield runs than Handscomb’s 1147 at 52.13, including four centuries. That included 112 and 61* in a Man-of-the-Match performance in Victoria’s win in the Shield final. He is also the highest run scorer in day-night Sheffield Shield games, with 480 runs at 60, including two hundreds.Captained Australia A in three first-class games this winter, and scored 137 against South Africa A in Townsville and 87 against India A in Brisbane.Nic Maddinson has eight first-class hundreds, two of which have come for Australia A•Getty ImagesNic Maddinson, 24In 2010, at the age of 18, Maddinson became the youngest player to score a century on Sheffield Shield debut for New South Wales. But his record lasted only until the next summer, when his team-mate Kurtis Patterson broke it again.Has represented Australia in T20s, and scored 34 off 16 balls on debut against India in Rajkot in 2013.His longest first-class innings remains the 335-ball 137 he made against Queensland in his debut season, nearly six years agoHas captained New South Wales in six Sheffield Shield games. In his first as skipper, he led from the front by smashing 80 off 72 balls to drive his side to victory in a chase of 214 against Queensland, in the same Mackay match in which Renshaw made his patient 170.Has hit more Sheffield Shield sixes in the past five years than any other batsman: 37. Next on the list in that time is Daniel Christian, with 35.Chadd Sayers was part of Australia’s Test squad in New Zealand earlier this year•Getty ImagesChadd Sayers, 29Cricket is in his blood, too. His father Dean Sayers played three first-class games for South Australia in 1981 as a medium-pace bowler, and dismissed Desmond Haynes in a tour match. And Chadd’s brother Aaron Sayers is a batsman who has played for the South Australia 2nd XI.Has been in Australia’s Test squad before. Toured New Zealand earlier this year, but was not called on in either of the two Tests.Is the Sheffield Shield’s leading wicket taker of the past four years. During that time, Sayers has collected 131 wickets at 23.45.Is also on top of the Sheffield Shield wicket tally this summer, with 19 at 16.10. He is almost exclusively a long-form player, having played the last of his 11 domestic one-day games back in 2014. Remarkably, he is yet to make his T20 debut.
