Australia’s interim men’s head coach Andrew McDonald is toying with the idea of playing axed batter Marcus Harris in the middle order.
Harris was dropped from the Test team during the recent Ashes series, having averaged only 29.83 across the first four matches and surpassing 50 runs on just one occasion.
Since debuting in 2018 the left-hander has failed to capitalise on his Test career, averaging a measly 25.29 in 14 matches and never reaching triple figures in an innings.
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The 29-year-old has been named in an 18-man squad to tour Pakistan next month, where Australia will play three Tests, three ODIs, and one Twenty20.
McDonald confirmed to media today that Usman Khawaja will retain his spot at the top of the Aussie order alongside David Warner for the first Test, beginning March 4 in Rawalpindi.
But the recent domestic form of Harris prompted the question of his role on the tour. This month, Harris has scored a 58 and a 91 in the Sheffield Shield for Victoria, punctuated by a 102* in a one-day match.
Harris has repeatedly shown he can score runs at domestic level – which lead to his Test selection in the first place – but has never been able to replicate it in the highest form of the game.
“He’s going well, he’s putting runs on the board. It’s not uncommon for Marcus to be making a lot of runs at Sheffield Shield level, and it was encouraging to see him get some one-day runs as well,” McDonald told media today.
“He’s in good form, he is an option (for the Test team). We know what he can do.
“Can he fit into the middle order if something was to go wrong there? That’s a potential as well.
“Usman, you would say, is a fair chance to start (as opener) in the first Test match after what he did this summer.
“We’ve got some options, some competition for spots, and that’s always healthy.”
Harris has only ever opened the batting in all of his 14 Test matches. He has never batted anywhere else in the order, making McDonald’s suggestion surprising.
Travis Head is the Test No.5 batter, while Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis are also in the squad and will be competing with Harris for the job if Head sits out a match.
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