Australia v India Tests: Marcus Harris started life as a right-hander before switching to left playing tee-ball

Aussie Test aspirant Marcus Harris scored centuries - and lots of them - as a rising teenage star and that caused quite a little bit of financial anxiety for one particular family member.

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The neighbours always knew when Marcus Harris was home as a kid.

Every summer, there was the unmistakable banging coming from the backyard under the pergola.

“Our next door neighbour would always say to us, ‘I knew when you guys were home because I’d hear bang, thump, bang, thump’,’’ Harris’ father Kim said.

“He’d say, ‘Bloody Marcus out in your backyard in the pergola, hitting the ball on the string and it goes up and over and hits the top of the pergola roof, bang’.

“Marcus would be out there for hours. You’d be watching the cricket and if there was an ad on, he’d grab his bat and start hitting the ball again, he’d do that for hours on end.’’

Marcus Harris has made big runs for Victoria this season. Picture: AAP.

It’s one of Kim’s favourite tales about Harris’ early devotion to the game that was rewarded with selection in the Australian squad for next month’s first Test against India in Adelaide.

“We’re so excited for Marco,’’ Kim said.

“Last night when he rang us, we’d only been talking on the phone probably 20 minutes before ... the phone rings again and it’s Marcus and he burst into tears and he goes ‘Dad, I’m in the team’. We were screaming and yelling.’’

Harris’ eagerness to hone his batting technique was clear early in their Perth suburb of Kinglsey, but cricket wasn’t his first foray into sport.

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He initally played tee-ball as a youngster, which is where he developed into a left-hander.

“I stopped him from playing cricket too early and I let him play tee-ball so he played tee-ball the first couple of years,’’ Kim said.

“That’s actually where he became left-handed because he had started playing tee-ball and done everything that he had done as a right-hander.

“One day he was showing me that he had swapped his hands around and he was still playing as a right-hander so I grabbed him and walked him around the other side of the tee and he was instantly knocking them out of sight.

“So, he became a left-hander by default. It’s a funny story.’’

A few years later, when he starting playing club cricket as a junior, is where the diminutive Harris inherited one of his earliest nicknames.

“His nickname when he first started was Tic Tac,’’ Kim said.

“Have you ever pulled a Tic Tac out of a box and had a look at what it looks like? That’s what Marcus looked like — about the same size as a Tic Tac with pads and a bat.

“That was one of his first nicknames because he was so small. He was always a little tacker early.’’

As a teenager, it was the opening batsman’s beloved late Nanna Harris who helped give his scoring a little push along with a bit of financial bribery.

And he cleaned up.

“My mum used to live with us and she used to say to Marcus every time he went to cricket, ‘Now, if you make a 100, Nanna will give you 20 bucks,’’ Kim said.

“There was one year, I think he was 14, he made something like 10 or 11 hundreds in the season for his school team and his club team ... and his Nanna used to say, ‘Marcus you are going to make me bankrupt with all these bloody $20 notes I’ve got to give you!’. It was priceless.’’

Batting mentor and close friend Rich Daly, who first coached a young Harris in the under-15s at Scarborough, said the Test aspirant was always one of the hardest workers - and most tenacious players - at the club.

Marcus Harris started life as a right handed batsman. Picture: AAP Image

“He was the smallest guy, he wasn’t the fastest guy, he wasn’t the strongest guy, he wasn’t the most athletic guy,’’ Daly said.

“But he is definitely the most tenacious of all the young guys I’ve worked with ... he’s like a pit bull, he just keeps coming.

“He did a lot of work behind the scenes, he was always preparing away from everyone else. Very few people understood exactly how hard he worked. He put in hours and hours of work and he was very unassuming about it, he wouldn’t tell anyone that he was doing it, no one knew.’’

Daly had no doubt that Harris was ready to make his Test debut.

“He is definitely ready for where he’s at, the timing is perfect,’’ Daly said.

“I just think now is the perfect time for his kind of character in a tough time for that team.”

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Originally published as Australia v India Tests: Marcus Harris started life as a right-hander before switching to left playing tee-ball