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Unheralded Pakistani quick Haris Rauf will get the chance to fill the void left by injured English paceman Pat Brown for the Melbourne Stars in the BBL.
Peter Handscomb has backed Pakistani paceman Haris Rauf to continue his meteoric BBL rise for the Melbourne Stars in the absence of the injured Pat Brown.
Rauf was playing club cricket in Hobart when the Stars signed him as an injury replacement for South African bull Dale Steyn and the now 26-year-old responded with a stunning 10 wickets in three BBL appearances.
Highly rated young English quick Brown was on Monday ruled out for the rest of the BBL campaign with a stress fracture in his back.
Despite Rauf's limited exposure to elite competition, Handscomb has complete confidence in the player's ability to fill the import void.
"Haris is one hell of a find ... he's come in, fit in nicely, and has taken bulk wickets," Handscomb said.
"His raw pace is something special but his death work has been really good and even up front he can get us a wicket nice and early ... as an all-around package he's impressive.
"I think (this opportunity) is huge for him ... potentially life-changing.
"He's come out on the world stage, performed straight away and performed really well.
"It could be the beginning of something pretty special for him ... I hope it is."
The table-topping Stars (5-1) will look to continue their winning ways on Wednesday night when they host the Sydney Thunder (3-3-1) at the MCG.
It will be Handscomb's last BBL appearance before he heads to India with the Australian ODI team.
Handscomb and Stars spinner Adam Zampa will miss between five and six BBL games while they take part in the three-match ODI tour.
But with Stars national side regulars Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Marcus Stoinis all missing out on national selection, Handscomb is confident the team will be well-positioned for a finals assault on his return.
"I enjoy every moment I play with the Stars and hopefully the boys can continue to play the way we have been. It's a nice, solid brand of cricket," he said.
"Through some non-selections our Stars squad remains quite strong.
"But we also pride ourselves on having quite a deep squad.
"International selections can hurt but I feel like were in a pretty good place regardless."
