Test outcast Marcus Harris faces BBL exile amid speculation about David Warner’s replacement

Not for the first time, Australian outcast Marcus Harris is on the verge of another uncomfortable summer – with the fringe opener facing a BBL exile on top of his Test uncertainty.

Ongoing uncertainty about whether Marcus Harris will be part of the Australian squad during the home summer has contributed to the Test aspirant being marginalised for this season’s Big Bash League.

Harris, the long-time understudy to Test openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja, had been on the Melbourne Renegades’ list since 2016, the same season he crossed to Victoria, playing 36 matches with a modest batting average of 20.77 at a strike rate of 121.82.

The left-hander was a member of the Renegades’ title-winning team in 2018-19 but his involvements have been limited in recent summers, with Harris playing just two BBL matches in the last three seasons as he hovered on the fringes of the Aussie Test side.

League sources have confirmed Harris has not been retained by the Renegades, and nor has he received a primary list spot at any other club.

While his patchy Twenty20 record means he is unlikely to ever be a top priority for a BBL club, his batting numbers in the format are very similar to those of Marnus Labuschagne, who is contracted to the Brisbane Heat.

Harris has not been retained by the Renegades this year amid uncertainty around his Test role. Picture: AAP

However whereas the Heat knows World Cup final hero Labuschagne will be available only for brief windows this season because of his Test commitments, BBL clubs remain in the dark about whether Harris will be called up for the January Tests against the West Indies, if not earlier, further diminishing his attractiveness as a Big Bash proposition.

Warner remains in the box seat to retain his spot for what he has flagged as his farewell Test series against Pakistan, however it is conceivable Harris could still be selected in Australia’s squad as a spare batter, as occurred last summer and during the Ashes tour, given the need for concussions replacements to be on standby.

Harris, 31, and fellow Test contenders Cameron Bancroft and Matthew Renshaw have been picked for a Prime Minister’s XI match in Canberra next week against Pakistan, a game that has been built as a “bat off” to replace Warner, ruling Renshaw out of the Heat’s season-opener against the Melbourne Stars.

Warner is preparing for a farewell series against Pakistan – but his eventual replacement is no clearer. Picture: Getty

But Australian coach Andrew McDonald’s revelation on SEN earlier this week that national selectors are considering a rejigged top six to allow Cameron Green and Mitch Marsh to play in the same side once Warner retires means it is conceivable that none of Harris, Bancroft or Renshaw will play a Test this summer.

Harris, who hasn’t played for his country since early last year after being squeezed out following Khawaja’s triumphant Ashes return in Sydney, has been the primary backup for Warner and Khawaja for much of that time, and unlike Bancroft and Renshaw received a central contract earlier in the year.

He was spared Australia A duties against New Zealand ahead of the home summer, but has had a mixed first half of the Shield campaign.

Harris could still be an option for a BBL club as a local replacement player.

Meanwhile the Sydney Sixers are poised to lose England young gun Rehan Ahmed for the entire BBL, as the ECB manages the workload of the emerging all-rounder. Ahmed joins Harry Brook, who pulled out of a planned stint with the Stars.

The Stars are likely to fill their list with another local spinner after losing Adam Zampa to the Renegades.