'Look in the mirror': Aussie great blasts Peter Handscomb over Shield farce

Sun, 13 Oct 2019, 10:39 pm

Victorian captain Peter Handscomb has been slammed by Australian cricket great Ian Chappell after his state’s Sheffield Shield match against South Australia over the weekend descended into farce.

On a Junction Oval wicket that provided little to no help for either side’s bowling attack, just 12 wickets fell in four days for a whopping total of just over 1200 runs.

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Victoria made 6-616 (dec) in the first innings, and Handscomb, seemingly fed up with the flat track he was forced to bowl on, took a swipe at his opponents at stumps on the third day.

He and South Australian counterpart Travis Head had failed to come to an agreement on a potential fourth-day run chase that would have saved the match from the high-scoring snooze-fest is ended up being.

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"I'm just annoyed the game is dead. We're all going to walk away from here with a draw, whereas we could've been competing for something tomorrow," Handscomb said on Saturday.

But now, with the lacklustre spectacle in the rear view mirror, Chappell has suggested Handscomb ought to consider how own position before taking aim at his competitors.

Victorian cricket captain Peter Handscomb, pictured during the Sheffield Shield match against South Australia, has been criticised for his post-match comments. — Victorian cricket captain Peter Handscomb has come under fire from Ian Chappell after a dour Sheffield Shield match over the weekend. Pictures: Getty Images

“When James Pattinson bowls a whole pile of overs and only takes one wicket it probably tells you the pitch is a bit too flat, but if you bat first, make 600, you are really consigning the game to dreariness," Chappell said on Channel 9’s Wide World of Sports.

"For Handscomb to complain that he couldn't get a result, well he needs to look in the mirror.”

Chappell was also less than impressed with Handscomb’s efforts to engineer a result to the match by attempting to strike a deal with Head.

"I hate contrived results, I don't mind people declaring and trying to make a game of it, but what really annoys me is when the captains get together and decide on a target," he said.