Harris stays focused as Ashes contenders fire

Marcus Harris has gone a long way to securing his place in Australia's Ashes squad with a chanceless unbeaten century for Australia A in his first opportunity on English soil.

Harris dispatched the penultimate ball of day two against Sussex to the fine-leg boundary to bring up his hundred and in doing so brought up the 200-run stand with perhaps his closest challenger to partner David Warner in the Ashes, fellow opener Joe Burns.

While it's not set in stone that Warner will return to the top of the order for the Ashes, his blistering form in the World Cup suggests he will likely slot back into the Test XI, with one of Harris, Burns and perhaps Western Australia's Cameron Bancroft – who also scored a century on Monday, posting 109 for UK county side Durham - to open alongside him.

Reaching triple figures in Australian colours would have been a relief for Harris, who failed to score a hundred in six Tests last summer on home soil.

But as it stands just over three weeks out from the first Test, Harris is the first to put his hand up in front of national selector Trevor Hohns, who was on deck to witness the left-hander's innings from start to stumps.

Image Id: D496821652C1436F9A6F0F1F2BF6510E Image Caption: Harris found the boundary at will at Arundel // Getty

Burns is not far behind Harris and finished Monday on 88 not out, less than a week after he arrived in England. The Queenslander, who recently took time away from the game due to fatigue, is coming off a career-high 180 in his most recent Test against Sri Lanka in February.

Harris says he’s not focused on what his competitors are doing but on what he can control, which is his own performances in the four-day clashes against Sussex, England Lions (July 14-17) and the all-Australian showdown in Southampton (July 23-26). 

"There's a few spots up for grabs and a few of us are vying for them," Harris said after play in Arundel.

"How you go in your next three games will put you in a good place. That's all you can think about.

"If you're too worried about what other blokes are doing, you end up finding you can't make a run, you're too worried about what everyone else is doing.  

"It was just good to be out there in the moment. We've put on 200 so it's pretty good."

Monday's outing was the fourth time Harris and Burns have opened the batting together following their three previous stints against Sri Lanka in Brisbane and Canberra earlier this year. 

And Monday’s effort was the longest they've spent together in the middle by some margin, batting for more than three hours in brilliant sunshine against an understrength Sussex attack.

With the Australia A squad light on batting after Peter Handscomb, Matt Wade and Mitch Marsh were called up to Australia's World Cup squad, Harris and Burns will likely open the batting again next week against the England Lions in a four-day clash in Canterbury.

Harris said batting with Burns was like a "flashback to Canberra" and that they kept the mid-pitch chats short and simple.

"Not much," Harris said when asked what the talk between he and Burns was like. "Just about keeping sharp and rotating the strike, different conditions and how the ball was behaving. 

"Pretty normal stuff.

Image Id: 3C116E775DFF4BDDB62D301512E98CEB Image Caption: Burns and Harris were almost chanceless on day two // Getty

"Burnsy played pretty well so it was pretty free flowing, which was good. It makes it easier, rotating the strike a fair bit."

As for the plan for Australia A on Tuesday given they still trail Sussex by just 60 runs, Harris summed up the strategy up in five words.

"Bat ‘till this time tomorrow." 

Australia A tour of the UK

Get live scores and all the latest news from Australia A's tour of the UK on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app

Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb, Mitch Marsh (vc), D'Arcy Short, Kurtis Patterson, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Sean Abbott, Andrew Tye

Australia A four-day squad: Tim Paine (c), Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Travis Head (vc), Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Jon Holland, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Chris Tremain

One-day fixtures:

June 20: Australia A beat Northamptonshire by six wickets

June 23: Australia A beat Derbyshire by seven wickets

June 25: Australia A v Worcestershire, match abandoned

June 30: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by five wickets

July 2: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by nine runs

Four-day fixtures:

July 7-10: Australia A v Sussex, Arundel

July 13-16: Australia A v England Lions, Canterbury

July 23-26: Australia v Australia A, Hampshire