Handscomb was brought into the squad to replace Shaun Marsh when he broke his wrist while batting in the nets and Wade came across as Usman Khawaja’s tournament ended, when Khawaja injured his hamstring in the loss to South Africa.

Handscomb was preferred over Wade to replace Khawaja in the starting XI and he came in at No. 4 after former skipper Steve Smith was promoted to first drop.

But the selection didn’t pay off as the Victorian was bowled through the gate for a scratchy four off 12 balls.

He looked awful in his short stay at the crease after England had picked up the key wickets of Aaron Finch and David Warner within three overs, playing and missing repeatedly before his stumps were disturbed.

Wade has been in stunning form for the best part of two summers, racking up 1021 runs at 60.05 in the last Sheffield Shield season to finish as the competition’s second-leading runscorer and also piling on 592 Big Bash League runs at 42.29.

During Australia A’s tour of the UK, Wade belted consecutive tons, scoring 117 off 67 balls and 155 off 71 balls as he set the record for the fastest ever List A century by an Australian. He followed that up with knocks of 41 off 20 and 42 off 37 but couldn’t crack a spot in the team against the Poms.

Australian legend and the team’s former bowling coach Craig McDermott led the outcry over Wade’s absence, in disbelief about why a man who has so much experience facing Jofra Archer in the nets, having both played for the Hobart Hurricanes, was overlooked.

There was no shortage of cricket fans and journalists willing to criticise Handscomb for the manner of his dismissal at Edgbaston after he left a yawning gap between bat and pad that allowed the ball to snake through and crash into his woodwork.

English cricket writer Nick Hoult was among the critics, tweeting Handscomb “had a shocker”.

There were calls for Wade to get a go in the Test side last summer and he questioned the lack of clarity behind his non-selection, before it was revealed selectors had told him he was batting too low in the order for Tasmania (No. 6) to be considered for a national recall in the five-day format.

Ahead of the clash against England, coach Justin Langer said Handscomb was a certainty to get the nod over Wade as he elaborated on how unlucky the right-hander was to miss out on World Cup selection in the first place after impressive performances with the bat in recent series against India and Pakistan.

“I’ll tell you the truth. Peter Handscomb will definitely play, 100 per cent,” Langer said.

“He deserves it. He was stiff not to be on this tour, he was so unlucky not to be in the initial squad after what he’d done to get us to that point.

“He’s in good form, he played well for Australia A, gives us that nice balance in the middle order. He’s got good temperament, he plays spin well, he’s on top of his game, so Pete will definitely play.”

Handscomb had also put up useful numbers on the Australia A tour, even if they weren’t in the same league as Wade’s. The 28-year-old scored 64, 28 not out, 57 and one in four innings before he was brought into camp.

Before today, Handscomb had scored one century and four fifties in 21 ODIs at an average of 34.88.