Harris’ cameo against Starc, Lyon sums up Test selectors’ dilemma

Among the contenders to slot into Australia’s Test top six against India following Cameron Green’s back surgery, only Marcus Harris has already proven he can make runs against Jasprit Bumrah and company.

Neat at the crease, handsome in his stroke production and capable of big scores in first-class cricket, Harris has always looked the part.

Marcus Harris flicks one off his legs playing for Australian in 2021.Credit: Getty Images

But it is by such numbers as his Sheffield Shield tally for Victoria against NSW at the MCG on Sunday that most casual observers have come to know him. After doing most of the hard work against Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbott and Nathan Lyon, Harris touched a lifting ball down the leg side to be out for 26 from 89 hard-fought balls, with one princely cover drive to remember him by.

It was the sort of dismissal and score that characterised most of Harris’ five previous matches against India, all on home soil. From those games, he compiled 301 runs at 33.44 with a couple of half centuries, and only once was dismissed before 20.

With those innings, Harris showed that he had all the technical chops to prosper against India in a variety of conditions, needing only to find a way to bat more time, avoid mental mistakes, and let the runs come to him.

One of the innings, 70 on day one on a sporting surface in December 2018, set up a Test win for Australia in their first match at the new Perth Stadium. But the other big score, 79 at the SCG later that series, was the “cash-in” opportunity wasted on a friendlier pitch. Turn that into 150 and Harris would average closer to 45 against India.

Frustrations about Harris’ Test match output have meant that since 2022 he has been solely a reserve. There is a danger that, at 32, he may primarily be known as “mediocre with flashes of brilliance” – the harsh but fair assessment of then-Western Australia coach Justin Langer when Harris, a clubmate at Scarborough, chose to move to Victoria to broaden himself and his game.

A succession of handy starts in the early days of a Test career can mean better will follow, but not always.

Steve Waugh, famously, waited nearly four years after his debut for a first Test hundred, at Headingley in 1989, and went on to carve out 31 more.

Whereas in 1991, a young Mark Ramprakash got to scores of 19 or better, facing 48 balls or more, in every one of his first nine Test innings for England against the mighty West Indies. Most thought this would be the platform for something bigger, but it actually turned out to be more or less his level: A series average of 23.33 became a career mark of 27.32 over 52 matches.

Harris plays an expansive shot against a star-studded NSW bowling attack at the MCG on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images

That, then, is the selectors’ poser for Harris: Has he found a way to quieten the noise in his head once he gets going in a major match, where plenty of eyes will be peeled to see how far he can go?

Or are they better off going with a less-known quantity against India’s seamers, such as wunderkind Sam Konstas, Cameron Bancroft or Nathan McSweeney. With only a handful of runs to defend, Bumrah still made life mightily awkward for New Zealand’s top order before they secured victory in Bengaluru. Harris is trying not to think too much about it all.

“Probably in the past, it’s weighed on my mind a lot more than what it is at the moment,” he said earlier this month. “I’m just sort of playing it as it comes at me. I think last year was a good lesson for that. I’ll just keep playing whatever I’m playing and trying to put some runs on the board.

“I think it’s always helpful if you get runs early in the season, to sort of kick-start your season a little bit. But, yeah, just focus on what I’m doing here.”

Harris’ platform on Sunday helped Victoria get to 9-259 after being sent in by the Blues on a juicy MCG surface, despite the best efforts of Abbott (4-50) in particular.

In Brisbane, South Australia’s Henry Hunt (130 not out) batted through the whole of day one at Allan Border Field to get the SACAs to 7-289. Tasmania had reached 5-158 against Western Australia in Perth when rain interrupted play.

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