Forgotten man Marcus Harris in Test contention

Australian cricket’s forgotten man Marcus Harris has two matches to mount a case for a shock recall to the Test squad.

Victoria opening batsman Marcus Harris can press his claims in the Australia A games

Marcus Harris has been forgotten by punters and pundits as they rush to embrace Will Pucovski and selectors as they defend Joe Burns, but the Victorian could potentially leap back into contention for the first Test.

The former Test opener was left out of the Test squad with the selectors set to choose Pucovski or Burns to pair with David Warner in the first game.

Warner’s injury creates a new dynamic but has not necessarily ended selection debates about who should get a chance in Adelaide.

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Harris, Pucovski and Burns will all play in the Australia A game against India A in Sydney on Sunday. You can assume the trio will back up again for the second day-night tour game at the SCG which gives each a fair chance to hang out their shingle.

The original plan was for selectors to make a call on Burns or Pucovski from the first game, but that was before Warner’s groin emerged.

Burns and Pucovski will open in the tour games so Harris will have to mount his argument from further down the order.

Harris is back in contention and deserves to be after making some slight adjustments to his batting which have brought results in the first half of the Sheffield Shield season.

All eyes were on Pucovski in the Sheffield Shield, but Harris matched him with a double century against South Australia and followed it with a 71 and 45 against Western Australia.

There were concerns about Harris’s technique before the season but they should have eased.

He has worked hard in the pre-season with new Victorian coach and batting whisperer Chris Rogers on a technical flaw and the double century was an early indication of the progress he has made.

In the past Harris has tended to bring his bat on a horizontal not vertical axis, but he has straightened himself with the coach’s guidance.

A century or two in the tour matches would be a signal that his early season form is not a mirage.

If Burns fails it will mean he has not made a score of significance in five matches this summer.

Harris is, importantly, a left-hander, which would return the top of the order to the setting preferred by selectors and captains for the past two decades.

The 28-year-old played nine Tests between 2018 and 2019, at first coming in to pair with Aaron Finch when Warner was injured then Usman Khawaja when Finch was dropped for the final Test of that series against India.

He then partnered with Burns against Sri Lanka in the back half of that summer. Both were absent from the first Tests of the Ashes, but Harris returned to partner with Warner when Cameron Bancroft was dropped from the third Test.

A highest score of 19 from six innings saw the Victorian replaced last summer by Burns.

He is an outside chance of returning the disservice, but it will take a significant performance against India in the tour match.

Both Justin Langer and Trevor Hohns had publicly defended Burns’s position in the side when Pucovski first mounted his challenge.

It might be difficult for them to back away from that public position, but they will let themselves down if they are not open to changing their minds.

Much has been made of the chemistry between Burns and Warner, but perhaps there should be some attention given to something going on between Harris and Pucovski.

The pair’s 486-run partnership against South Australia is the highest in the history of the Sheffield Shield, passing the 464 set by Mark and Steve Waugh against WA in 1990.

It was the first time the Victorians had batted together. If chemistry was an argument to back Burns it is now redundant, which is not to say he should not play.