David Warner backs Marcus Harris to fill Australian Test opener spot

David Warner has urged the selectors to show faith in a replacement – and it isn’t his former opening partner Cameron Bancroft.

David Warner has strongly endorsed longtime understudy Marcus Harris to take his opening spot when the veteran bows out of red ball cricket after the SCG Test.

Warner challenged the selectors to “show faith” in Harris, who has been a regular squad member since his 2018 Test debut but has only played five matches since the 2019 Ashes.

Harris crashed 126 from 131 balls against Pakistan at the Junction Oval in last week’s two-day tour game, which came after a difficult start to the Sheffield Shield season in which he managed only 282 runs at 31.33 in nine innings.

Cameron Bancroft leads the Shield run-scoring at the halfway mark of the season after he made 945 runs in a stellar campaign last summer, but Warner said it was Harris who had “worked his backside off” to win a spot in the side.

“Look, it’s a tough one, it’s obviously up to the selectors but from my position … I feel like the person who has worked their backside off and has been there for a while in the background – I think (Harris) has been that person,” Warner said after play on day one at the MCG.

Marcus Harris has been given a firm endorsement by David Warner to regain a spot in the Test side when Warner retires. Picture: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images

“He’s always toured, he’s going to have that chance. He scored a hundred the other day, he missed out in a couple of other games, but he’s always been that person who is next in line.

“If the selectors show their faith in him, then I’m sure he’ll come out and play in the way he does.”

Warner said he would prefer to see Harris rather than another member of Australia’s top six or Cameron Green shifting position to fill his spot when he retires in two weeks’ time.

“(Harris) is not too dissimilar to me – if he sees it in his areas, he goes for it and plays his shots,” he said.

“I think he’d fit well.”

Warner, who was dropped on two and then fell for 38 after a attempting a brash cover drive off finger spinner Salman Ali Agha in the last over before lunch, said him and Usman Khawaja had made a concerted effort to try and put the Pakistan bowlers off their lengths during a challenging first session.

Harris earnt his Test chance in the wake of the ball tampering scandal which cost Warner his spot for a year, but batted with the veteran opener in the 2021 Boxing Day Test against England. Picture: Robert Cianflone / Getty Images

“You’ve just got to try and apply pressure in the way that eliminates the risk of dismissal as well,” he said.

“Uzzie walked at Shaheen and it nipped a little bit, but they’re things that you do to try and put them off their length, and you’ve got to be brave to do that.

“You have to do something … I’m not the player who can just sit there, otherwise I might as well kick ‘em over, so you’ve just got to try to apply pressure.”

Warner said fellow 37-year-old Khawaja, who was caught at second slip after the lunch break for 42 attempting to cut Hasan Ali, had also earnt the right to decide when his time in Test cricket was up.

“He’s just happy to be back part of the group – his last 12 months have been absolutely phenomenal, and he can play as long as he wants to and feels comfortable,” Warner said.

“He’s got two young beautiful girls at home as well and his wife Rachel, so I think that will have a big say in it as well, being away from family.

“I think when the time is right, he’ll call it.”

Originally published as David Warner backs Marcus Harris to fill Australian Test opener spot