YORKSHIRE'S Peter Handscomb believes batting higher up the order in one-day cricket suits his natural game.

The Australian overseas star has been in stunning form throughout the first half of the Royal London Cup, scoring 407 runs from five innings at an average of 101.75.

He is the competition's leading run-scorer, having hit his maiden career century in the win over Derbyshire at Headingley on Sunday.

Handscomb, 26, started his one-day career for Victoria batting at number six but he has been shifted round the order in various teams.

He has batted as low as eight and has even opened on a couple of occasions for his state and Australia A.

Yet his most regular position throughout a 61-game List A career has been at number four and that is where he has enjoyed his recent success for the Vikings.

"Moving up means I can play my natural game again, which is nick it and nudge it around and go at a run a ball for as long as I can and potentially launch at the back end if I'm still in," said Handscomb ahead of tomorrow's floodlit clash with Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

"I used to think that going into the last 20 overs if I was on 40 or 50, I could tee off because there's heaps of batters behind.

"But it's a lot more about being my responsibility to take us into the last 10 and protect the power-hitters we've got at the back end.

"My game's feeling good. I feel like my movements are on and I'm sort of now understanding my role in one-day cricket and how I should play. So much of it is mindset and it's nice that it's coming along."

Handscomb has shown glimpses of a power game, hitting six sixes against Derbyshire, but he has largely been measured at the crease.

This led Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale to say: "He just ticks over, doesn't he. He's the sort of batsman who you look up at the scoreboard and see he's got to 40 off 30 balls and think 'how's he got that?'

"He's not quite as brutal as Jonny Bairstow is but he goes about it in the right way. So far, he's been really impressive."

Handscomb will retain his position at four against Northants, a game for which all of the county's England players are available. That means he is likely to hand the wicketkeeping gloves back to Bairstow following two games behind the stumps.

"Keeping, and I've always said this, is just a second string thing," said Handscomb. "I do it to fill in if guys are injured or if it makes the team stronger. I'll do it by all means but I've always been a batter first.

"By no means am I trying to take Matthew Wade's position as Australian keeper, for example, because he's doing a great job and I think it would be a poor move if I kept in front of him. I want to be able to get into teams and squads as a batter."

Two more wins from three fixtures will definitely secure Yorkshire's passage through to the knockout stages, although one should do it. They may need more to top the group for a home semi-final.

Northants have lost three and won one of their first five outings.