The chairman of selectors of Australia, George Bailey has all but confirmed Australia’s opening pair for the first Test and considerable length of time in the upcoming Ashes series against England scheduled to start on December 08 in Brisbane.
Bailey said that Marcus Harris has only got “limited opportunity” for Australia and that the hosts will be confident in giving him an “extended run” at the top of the order. Bailey took cognisance of Harris’s consistent run of form with the bat in Australian domestic circuit and his recent exploits in the English county circuit as well.
Bailey’s public support all but confirms that Harris will walk out with David Warner to thwart the bowling attack of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood in his second Ashes series.
"It gives you great confidence as a selector when you know your opening batters are locked away as far as a Test series goes. It's a hard spot to bat and to get those places settled, it's really important,” Bailey told RSN radio.
"Harry's only had a limited opportunity in the past, and he's been in and out a bit, so we'd love nothing more than for him to hopefully get an opportunity to get in an extended run at it. What we have liked is his consistency. He's obviously been a prolific run-scorer at domestic level here, but also loves the fact he went overseas and had a great year for Leicester as well.”
Harris made his debut two years ago in the 2018-19 summer against India after the first-choice opening pair of Warner and Cameron Bancroft was banned from international cricket. He showed signs and technique of a Test opener but lack of big runs made him lose his spot when both Warner and Bancroft returned for the 2019 Ashes series in England.
However, he came back in the latter half of the series to replace an out-of-form Bancroft, but there were no piling up of runs from his bat either and hence he had to sit out of the first three Tests of the series against India as well.