Marcus Harris aiming to open with David Warner in first Ashes Test
Test opener Marcus Harris has no doubt banned batsman David Warner will be opening in the first Ashes Test in August, and wants to be out there with him.
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Test opener Marcus Harris has no doubt banned batsman David Warner will be opening in the first Ashes Test in August, and wants to be out there with him.
Warner is eligible to play for Australia again on Friday and is expected to play his way back in to the Test team via the World Cup.
The left-hander showed his hunger for runs with a quickfire innings of 85 in the Indian Premier League on Sunday and Harris said there was no debate about his eligibility to return to the Australian side.
“Personally, anyone that averages nearly 50 as an opening batsman and has made over 20 Test hundreds, I know what happened happened but he has probably got the credits in the bank,” Harris said.
“You saw throughout our Test summer, without the quality of players like that teams can struggle. I think he probably deserves his spot back.”
Harris, who opened in all six home Tests this summer with Warner absent, has put up 1000 Sheffield Shield runs as his case to maintain his position.
But the 26-year-old knows there are a lot of innings needed to be played between now and then, and other batsmen to outscore, in order to lock down a Test spot.
“With the Ashes being so far away, the Australia A series will be heavily weighted, so you have to wait and see how people perform in that,” Harris said.
“There’s only two spots at the top of the order and I dare say David Warner has probably got one of them. It will be a tight squeeze, but whoever is making runs will take the position. I feel like I have been doing everything I can do to try and keep my spot in that side.”
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