Opener scored a brisk hundred on the second day against Pakistan On the second day of Pakistan’s warm-up match against a Victoria XI, Marcus Harris, who is one of those vying to replace David Warner in Australia’s Test team, made the most of an additional red-ball innings with a fast century.
At Junction Oval, Harris hit 126 off 131 balls, with 22 fours and a six during the innings. With Warner’s retirement after the Sydney Test, the selectors will have to decide on a new opener early the following month.
It remains to be seen if the innings would influence selection, but Harris took full advantage of the hurriedly scheduled match that the PCB had requested. The reason the game was played behind closed doors was reportedly not because the guests didn’t want anyone to come, but rather because it was difficult to recruit enough workers to open the venue on short notice.
Despite not being a first-class match, Harris’s century extends his remarkable record at the ground, where he averages 79.85 in four-day cricket on what is generally considered to be one of the nation’s flatter wickets.
Harris, who is without a BBL contract, averaged 31.33 in five Sheffield Shield games for Victoria during the season’s first half. In Canberra, he also played Pakistan for the Prime Minister’s XI and scored 49.
In addition to Matt Renshaw and Cameron Bancroft, he is one of three specialist openers under consideration to replace Warner. However, there is still a possibility that the selectors will rearrange the batting order to make room for Cameron Green. But thus far, the current XI’s prospective promotion contenders have shown little enthusiasm for the concept.
Alex Carey stated on Saturday, “I think Cam’s skilled enough to play in any position for his country.” “Again, it’s a major dilemma for Australian cricket, much like the Cameron and Mitch [Marsh] situation. There are a ton of fantastic players throughout the nation who are scoring runs. There are many excellent players in this group that are capable of ranking anywhere in the top six.
“If this is the end for Davey, there are still a few games left. I’m definitely more excited to celebrate Davey, a wonderful cricket player, than I am to worry too much about who will take his place.
Early in 2022, Harris participated in his 14th Test match against England in Sydney. After the match, he returned with two hundreds, and Usman Khawaja was used as a stand-in. Since then, he has been a consistent reserve batsman for the Test team, playing in the Ashes series this year, and he is under contract with CA.
Harris remarked, “I feel like I’ve had seven or eight years of good cricket,” during the PM’s XI match. “I think I’ve shown enough since moving to Victoria, especially in domestic cricket; whether or not I can do the same in international cricket is debatable and open to other people’s perspectives.
“I felt like I was just getting started in my last few tests, but it’s okay because things happened that weren’t within my control. Since I’ve been in this situation for a few years, it’s okay if it comes down to just one game.”
