"Hard Not To Take That To Heart": Australia Batter On Social Media Abuse

Australian batter Peter Handscomb has opened up on his mental health struggles during his poor outings with the bat. Handscomb, who had made his Test debut in 2016 against South Africa in Adelaide, started his career at an average of 99.75 in his first four Tests, but was later dropped from the Australian team following a poor run of form in the longest format of the the game. Eyeing a return to the side following a 697-run season in the Sheffield Shield, Handscomb said that he received constant abuse on Facebook and Twitter for his batting technique, suggesting that it was hard to "not take that to heart."

"I found those two platforms probably the worst in terms of people having direct access to you, to just randomly sledge you and take you down,"Handscomb told cricket.com.au.

"When someone's taking the time out to directly message you, calling you s**t or 'How dare you be in the Australian side' - that kind of stuff - it's hard not to take that to heart, especially (given) I was quite young at the time," he added.

Handscomb, who is currently leading Middlesex in the English County Championship, feels that he is better prepared to deal with the criticisms now.

"If that does happen again, and I am lucky enough to play for Australia again then, yeah, I think I'm better equipped to deal with everything that comes with it," the 31-year-old further stated.

Promoted

Handscomb will feature for Australia 'A' during their tour of Sri Lanka in June.

While the Australian senior team will play three T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests, the 'A' side will play two one-day games and two first-class matches.