Ashes 2022 selction news: Marcus Harris’ Test career far from over, Cummins warns succession plan
Usman Khawaja’s SCG heroics lead to the demise of Marcus Harris - the Victorian’s Test career is far from over however as Pat Cummins warns of an incoming opener succession plan.
Selectors have assured Marcus Harris that his Test career is not dead, as Pat Cummins warned Australia will eventually need a succession plan for its two 35-year-old openers.
It was with a heavy heart that selectors had to tap the Victorian on the shoulder to make way for Usman Khawaja, because they did believe Harris had shown he is up to Test level during the Ashes.
Harris has been knocked out by the irrefutable case presented by Khawaja’s twin centuries in Sydney, but Cummins said the fighting left-hander will remain in the mix for Australian selection in 2022 and forecast a potential road back via an Australia A tour of Sri Lanka.
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Khawaja and David Warner are both 35, and Cummins there will be opportunities available to Harris, 29, to claw his way back.
“The message to Harry is we think he’s going really well. It’s really tough on him,” said Cummins.
“Uzzie and Davey have really earned that spot to open the batting, but the reality is they’re both 35 years old.
“While that doesn’t mean anything in the short-term, there will be a day when we need to find some other openers.
“Marcus still absolutely has got a huge future with us. He’ll be, I’m sure around the squad.
“There might even be an Aussie A squad going overseas in the off-season; there will be Shield cricket, county cricket, lots of opportunities.
“This is probably more of a case of someone demanding a spot rather than Marcus losing a spot due to form.
“It’s not too often someone comes in and hits two hundreds in the same game.”
Ultimately it was the fact Harris’ has gone 14 Tests without scoring a hundred that meant he was never going to win a game of musical chairs with Khawaja following the SCG masterclass.
But Harris’ match-shaping 76 during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne has been highly regarded by selectors and won’t be forgotten.
“I think that innings in Melbourne was fantastic. If Scotty doesn’t take 6-7, it was probably a man-of-the-match type of effort in a low scoring match,” said Cummins.
“He looks really confident. I’ve seen him take a few more calculated risks the more the series has gone on. Whenever he walks out to bat I feel really confident a big score isn’t far away.
“He’s been growing with each game. He was a huge part in how we won that MCG Test. It was a crucial innings.
“He’s certainly part of the future. We’ll certainly keep investing with him. I think he’s been going really well.”
Ballad of Aussie openers: Khawaja, Warner bond runs deep
Kindred spirits Usman Khawaja and David Warner are set to be reunited as Australia’s new opening pairing, 28 years after they first threw balls together as children.
It’s a journey so unique and a bond so deep legendary Australian songwriter Paul Kelly has even turned it into the ballad of the summer.
Kelly sings in a newly released song: “Khawaja loved the game of cricket since he was a boy. With his good friend Davey, it was their pride and joy. He took the train down to the SCG. He said, ‘Dave, one day we’ll play there, you and me.’ He loved his bat and ball and gloves, he loved his batting pads. He played a million weekend games in front of mums and dads.”
Khawaja is set to keep his place for the final Test, but to open the batting. Marcus Harris is set to miss.
The move rekindles a deep Khawaja-Warner bond.
It was on those Saturday mornings in the eastern suburbs of Sydney that the two 35-year-olds first bonded aged 7, throwing the ball up against the wall together at Waverley Oval watching older brothers play cricket.
They opened the bowling together in juniors and were in local representative teams through their teens. By 18 they were touring the world for the Australian under-19s.
Friends and former coaches describe them as completely different personalities but bonded by a key common trait: Honesty.
Their former under-19s assistant coach Matthew Mott said: “They both really call it how they see it. Davey will admit he’s quite brash in his openness about how honest he is. If Uzzie is ever asked what he thinks, he won’t say what’s popular, he’ll say what he thinks is right.
“And they’re both really good family men. Having just been down in that (Australian team) bubble, seeing them with their young families that was pretty cool. They’re very good fathers and very good husbands and they’ve got a very strong sense of family.”
Head coach of the 2006 under-19s world cup team Brian McFadyen said cricket had united the pair’s polar opposite personalities.
“Even from a really young age, Uzzie was really composed and calculated and very popular and ever- reliable,” McFadyen said.
“But you couldn’t say the same thing about David. Dave was all of those in reverse as a young man. But the irony was they always had a really fond liking and strong respect for each other and a really clear understanding for how different they were.”
Their NSW under-19s coach David Freedman remembers Warner as the kid who always helped pack up the kit, while Mott has not forgotten the biryani dishes Khawaja’s mother provided.
Warner wrote on social media after the Sydney Test: “We grew up playing the game we love together, but now back in the same team living our dreams together as fathers. This is what dreams are made of.
Aaron Finch was in the same Australian under-19s team and believes the fact Warner and Khawaja are “polar opposites” explains why they have become close.
“Obviously Davey hasn’t changed one bit. Literally has not changed one bit. He was as feisty and fiery when he was a youngster,” said Finch.
“And Uzzie has also always been the same. So laid back and relaxed. They just complement each other.”
Another member of that team, Jackson Bird, can think of another smilarity – Warner and Khawaja competed for ‘biggest pest.’
“Uzzie’s not afraid to put anyone in his box. They both gave it as good as they got.”
AUSSIES MAKE OPENER CALL FOR ASHES FINALE
Usman Khawaja is expected to knock Marcus Harris out of the Australian side for the final Test, as Australia’s fast bowling attack prepares to fight for selection.
Khawaja is set to remain in the Australian line-up but shift up to open the batting, with Harris tipped to be the unlucky man to miss out.
England captain Joe Root said his team have a massive challenge ahead of them to silence Khawaja, who he rates amongst the top echelon of Test batsmen.
“I was surprised he didn’t start the series, personally,” said Root.
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“I think he’s a wonderful player. I think he’s in a period of his career where he’s very content with his game and he’s got an understanding of how he wants to go and play.
“We’ve got some work to do to make sure that we keep him quiet in this last game.
“It’s a phenomenal effort what he managed to achieve last week. It was truly brilliant. We need to make sure we keep him quiet as best we can here in Tasmania.”
There has been strong support for Harris to survive for Hobart, but Khawaja’s twin hundreds at the SCG demands he stays in the team, as flagged by captain Pat Cummins after the Sydney Test.
Travis Head made a brilliant, breakout century at the start of the summer and only missed out on Sydney to make way for Khawaja because he contracted COVID-19. There is a feeling Head deserves his place, and unless Cameron Green is injured, selectors won’t want to break up his continuity in the line-up as a blossoming all-rounder.
Even though Harris has battled honourably during the series, including a match-defining 76 on a difficult wicket in Melbourne, the fact he is yet to score a 100 from 14 Tests is likely to make him the odd man out.
Australia – and Khawaja himself – have expressed some hesitation given the No.5 position where Khawaja fired at in Sydney is completely different to the challenges of opening the batting.
But Khawaja has opened and batted No.3 throughout his career and selectors have confidence he can make the step up to the top of the order – particularly when it’s likely he would open in the next Test series against Pakistan in March.
If left out it wouldn’t necessarily be the end for Harris though, given Australia will take a big squad to Pakistan and Sri Lanka for Test series this year.
Fast bowler Mitchell Starc is confident he will be able to power through a fifth straight Test match, but selectors will keep a close eye on Scott Boland at Wednesday night’s training session in Hobart after he pulled up sore at the SCG.
Jhye Richardson would come straight in for his second match of the series if Boland is ruled out.
Australian quicks Pat Cummins and Scott Boland didn’t bowl in the nets on Wednesday as mystery surrounds the make-up of the attack for the final Test.
But the duo are just managing workloads and may bowl on Thursday in Australia’s final session.
“He went to the gym yesterday. No doubt he’ll be at training and bowling,” said Starc of Boland.
“He’s a quiet character but quite a resilient one. No doubt he’ll be looking forward to taking part in this Test.
“Scott has been a fantastic force for Victoria for a long time. And to have the record that he does, playing at the old MCG and Junction Oval is fairly incredible.
“He’s just transitioned that into Test cricket really easily by the looks of things with how he’s performed the last two Tests. He’s been fantastic for the group in terms of the bowling group as a whole.”
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