Australia's Peter Handscomb has spoken up about his mental health issues throughout his dismal batting performances. Handscomb, who made his Test debut against South Africa in Adelaide in 2016, started his career with a 99.75 average in his first four Tests.

But then lost his place due to a poor run of form in the game's longest format.

Handscomb, who is eyeing a return to the side after a 697-run haul in the Sheffield Shield season, said he faced frequent hate and abuse on Facebook and Twitter for his batting approach, and that it was difficult 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. 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," Handscomb told cricket.com.au.

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Handscomb, who leads Middlesex in the English County Championship, believes he is now more prepared to deal with the criticism.

"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.

Handscomb will play for Australia's 'A' team on their June tour of Sri Lanka.

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