Usman Khawaja and Marcus Harris locked in battle as Steve Smith looms

Usman Khawaja and Marcus Harris appear locked in a battle to avoid making way for Steve Smith in the fourth Test.

Usman Khawaja plays a leg glance against Derbyshire at the County Ground yesterday. Picture: Getty Images

Steve Smith was given a round of warm applause as he made his way off the field at Derby yesterday. He’d had a bat, but it was in the nets out the back of the County Ground and not in the middle. That was a bit off yet.

The Derbyshire folk like their cricket and are warm in their appreciation of it.

The applause for Smith’s net session was reminiscent of a famous moment at the beginning of Ravi Shankar’s performance during the Concert for Bangladesh back in 1971.

The enthusiastic Western audience had broken into applause when Shankar stopped playing some minutes after taking the stage.

“If you appreciate the tuning so much,” the amused musician said, “I hope you will enjoy the playing more.”

It has never been said out loud by anybody inside the camp, but it is assumed the only relevance the tune-up at Derby has to the Ashes series is deciding who will make way for Smith in next week’s fourth Test. The contest is presumably between Usman Khawaja and Marcus Harris, its immediacy artificially enhanced by the sight of Khawaja moving up to open in this game as David Warner is not playing. If he is to remain in the Test side, Khawaja would have to take Harris’s place as opener.

Harris raced to a half-century in the 23 overs they faced before stumps on the first day of the game, Khawaja still dawdling about among the teens. Yesterday the senior batsman started crisply and any hope Harris had of making a definitive statement ended when he was run out. It was difficult to apportion blame, but a cynic would note that a wiser batsman might have known not to set off for a quick single when you are in competition with your partner for a bigger prize.

Khawaja brought up his half-century a little before lunch. Neither contribution would be enough to sway selectors’ thought processes and preconceptions will stand when they make a choice for Manchester.

Khawaja has done well when called in to open before, averaging 96.8 in the seven Test innings he has been called on to operate in that position. One of his finest efforts was in the day-night Test at Adelaide when Faf du Plessis caught David Warner with his pants down. The regular opener was in the bathroom when the South African skipper declared the innings closed. Warner wasn’t allowed to assume his usual position in the order because he was off the field, so Khawaja had to open. He scored 145.

The argument Harris should be given more than one Test would stand if it weren’t for the fact that the circumstances are extraordinary. Somebody must make way for Smith.