Peter Handscomb's mum wept tears of joy and the Adelaide Oval crowd were on their feet in appreciation but the Test debutant is far from satisfied.
Australia blooded three batsmen in the day-night Test against South Africa. Handscomb was the pick of them on day two, scoring 54 before he was clean bowled by Kyle Abbott.
The 25-year-old received a standing ovation upon registering his maiden half-century with a third consecutive boundary.
Handscomb noted after play he was determined to make it the start of a long and successful career in the baggy green.
"There is that chance there to try and cement a spot in the middle order, which I'll be trying to take with both hands," he said.
"Just going out there and doing what I do - hopefully it will be enough.
"I'm just trying to take it as - I don't want to say casual because I'm not trying to be casual ... just trying to focus on what I do and everything else around it hopefully looks after itself."
Mother Pat, who cried as Handscomb reached 50 in 70 balls, was among many friends and family in the stands.
"I didn't actually know that," he said.
"I haven't been able to speak to her yet or see her.
"Looking forward to getting back to the hotel and going to see how she's going. Hopefully she's feeling alright."
Handscomb walked out to the middle after a mix-up between the wickets led to Steve Smith's dismissal.
The right-hander thanked his friends for helping keep a pretence of normality about the situation.
"The mates were off to the side yelling all sorts of stuff, which was nice," he said.
"It sort of takes your mind off what was actually happening, you can just go out and try and play with freedom."
Handscomb did exactly that, although his maiden knock almost ended very early.
"I was just happy to survive those first two balls," he said.
"It wasn't a bad one from Vernon (Philander) first up then I nearly hit one straight back to him.
"I definitely did not need to hit that pull shot (to reach 50), but luckily enough it came out of the middle and went into the gap."
Share
