Coach Justin Langer has confirmed Marcus Harris will take his place in the Australian side for the Boxing Day Test, but cricket legend Ian Chappell says there’s one alternative who’s been forgotten.
Following a disappointing return of 3 and 9 not out at the Gabba, and 3 and 23 at Adelaide, Harris’ batting average has fallen to 22.19 from 23 innings across 12 matches.
Asked on Wide World of Sports’ Outside The Rope whether Harris should retain his spot for the third Test, Chappell said the struggling batsmen deserved one last opportunity to impress alongside David Warner in the opening partnership.
READ MORE: Disgraced NRL star hammered in boxing debut
READ MORE: Hamilton’s dramatic F1 loss sparks death threats
READ MORE: Iconic cricket commentator hangs up the mic
“I think he’ll definitely get a shot in Melbourne,” he said.
“If they’d lost one (Test match), let’s say it was one-all, that might be different. But two-nil up, he’s in.
“The other thing to look at is he was told by the selectors before the first Test that you’re our opener, that tells you something.
“But if he fails again in Melbourne they’ve got a big question mark.
However, if Australia were to look at other options, Chappell proposed recalling Queensland’s Matt Renshaw.
“He got dropped on poor first-class form. Now, I don’t think that’s fair. If you’re going to drop somebody, you’ve got to drop them on poor Test match form,” he said.
“His Test match form wasn’t poor, but he got dropped, then he went to the middle order.
“I think he made a mistake in going to the middle order, but to me, he’s a much better opening batsman than Marcus Harris.
“Will he come back to Australia as an opener? I’m not so sure now.”
Former Australian Test cricket captain Mark Taylor concurred with Chappell that Harris deserved one final chance. However, he said Australia could look at a replacement considering Australia’s dominance over England in the series so far.
“There’s no doubt [Harris] needs some runs, I agree with Chaps, he’ll play at the MCG because Australia can afford to play him,” he said.
“Win, lose or draw at the MCG, if Marcus Harris doesn’t make runs, Australia will be in a position to say, if we’re two-nil up or three-nil up, we can still make a change.
“Sometimes you’re better off making a change when things are going well because you can bring a young guy in if you think someone’s going to do a better job.
“It’s easy to drop someone, you’ve got to work out is there someone better that you think will do a better job.”
Having been part of the squad for the first two matches of the series, fellow Queenslander Usman Khawaja could be in the mix. However, Taylor feels a younger choice would be more beneficial than 35-year-old Khawaja.
“You’d have to go to a younger player, you’d have to try a Henry Hunt, or you bring Renshaw back in, or (Bryce) Street,” he said.
“You’d have to go to someone young with an eye to the future.
Chappell cautioned against selecting Khawaja, given the Australian team is scheduled to go to Pakistan early next year.
“People are forgetting why Khawaja was playing as a number three in Australia, and nowhere else,” he said.
“He wasn’t making any runs on the subcontinent. So now you’re going to pick him as an important batsman in Pakistan, where it’s going to turn?
“Doesn’t make any sense.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!