Harris’ latest double comes amid crowded field

The last time Marcus Harris made a Sheffield Shield double century, he was picked in the Test squad within a month.

But after his marathon 239 last week, his highest first-class score since that unbeaten 250 against NSW two summers ago sealed him a Baggy Green, Harris concedes the landscape for aspiring Test batters has changed considerably.

At the start of the 2018-19 summer, a Test team unsettled by the absence of banned trio Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft coupled with a lack of emerging batters demanding to fill the gap meant Harris was an obvious pick to face India.

Now, the left-hander's fresh bid to win back his spot is not only made more difficult by a relatively stable top seven, but also the sheer volume of runs that have been piled on since the ongoing season begun in Adelaide last month.

In just seven games, there have been eight individual scores of 150 or more, which already exceeds the tally in last summer's entire 27-game season, in which there were only seven.

There have been no more than nine during any of the four preceding seasons.

"We're in a different position to what we were back then (in 2018-19)," Harris said ahead of Victoria’s second and final game in the pre-BBL Shield bubble against his former team, Western Australia.

"Back then, three of the top four batters were on a break, so it's probably different. Since (then) the team has been really going well.

"It's similar to back then in that you need to make big runs to put your name up there and have a chance of being selected. That's always been the case with Australian cricket, that hundreds are not always good enough.

"You've got to make big hundreds and you've seen the selectors reward that. You're well aware of that as a batsman.

"Especially now at the moment with a lot of guys making a lot runs, to stand out from the pack you're going to have to make big hundreds."

Pitches have admittedly lent themselves to run scoring early in the season and more than half of this season's games have finished in draws.

Yet as Western Australia captain Shaun Marsh (who already has 350 runs at 87 in five innings) put it: "The wickets have been flat, but you've still got to go out and get them".

"I'm sure Justin (Langer, Australia coach) and the selection panel will be really happy about heading into a selection meeting over the next few weeks to pick the first Test squad," added Marsh.

During his days with his native WA, Harris remembers seeing Geoff Marsh (Shaun's father) and Mike Veletta's 431-run opening partnership from 1989 etched on the WACA Ground's honours board and "thinking that was unbelievable – I don't know how that could ever happen."

Having since crossed to Victoria in his ultimately successful push to win a Baggy Green, Harris discovered last weekend that record was not the only one he was capable of rewriting.

The 28-year-old and Will Pucovski put on 486 in their first time opening together, eclipsing not only Marsh and Veletta's Shield record first-wicket stand but also going past the overall benchmark for any wicket of 464 set by the Waugh twins in 1990.

It prompted Langer to send both Victorian batters congratulatory messages, following on from an off-season review Harris completed with his former state coach that gave him clarity over how he can win back his Test spot.

"JL (Langer) sent me and 'Puc' a text on Saturday night, which was really nice," said Harris, who has been doing technical work with new Victoria coach and former Test opener Chris Rogers after failing to pass 20 in his six innings in his most recent stint in the Test side, during last year's Ashes.

"I had a review with JL in the winter about where I stood and what he thought. It was really good, it was really clear.

"It's just about being ruthless and making big runs. I know where I stand and it's pretty simple, really.

"As I've got older I don't really care about what other people are doing. I just worry about what I'm doing and if I do what I need to do, that stuff looks after itself."