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Ashes dream fuelled by Warner union

Marcus Harris excited by the prospect of playing in the Ashes with ‘probably the best opening batter of my generation’

At the end of Australia’s Test campaign last summer, rookie opener Marcus Harris – in his own words – was "knackered".

After a dominant start to the JLT Sheffield Shield competition, Harris had been rewarded with a fresh Baggy Green cap and his first chance at the top level, the realisation of a lifelong dream validation for years of toil, but one that left him completely and utterly exhausted.

 

But having barely taken his cricket bat out of his kit bag for the better part of two months, Harris is now completely refreshed and eyeing another childhood ambition – his first Ashes tour – alongside" probably the best opening batter of my generation", former Test vice-captain David Warner.

"It wasn’t so much physical exhaustion, it was more mentally," Harris said this week of his maiden Test campaign, which yielded two half-centuries but lacked the breakthrough innings that littered his record-breaking Shield season.

"It was such a big emotional rollercoaster, my first Test summer. From having that experience, I’ll be better for it. Obviously the Ashes will be another kettle of fish if I’m there, but I think I’ll be better for the run.

"To be able to have an extended break now, stay at home and do a bit of training has been really good. It makes you more hungry once you’ve had a bit of a break."

The 26-year-old is now directing that hunger squarely at the four-day component of Australia A’s tour of the UK in July, where a host of Test contenders will battle each other for the right to play in the Ashes later in the northern summer.

While he has the advantage of Test incumbency, Harris is expecting there to be only one vacancy at the top of Australia’s batting order for the first Test at Edgbaston; when it was put to him that Warner is 'nipping at his heels' in the race for a Test spot, he replied: "I’m not sure he’s nipping at my heels, I’m pretty sure he’s there!”.

The impending Test returns of the Cape Town trio will only increase the selection squeeze on Harris and his Australia A teammates, but the left-hander is using the lure of partnering a modern batting great at the top of the order as extra motivation.

Harris caps innings with Test-best

"He’s probably the best opening batter of my generation," Harris said of Warner at Kayo's Cricket World Cup launch in Melbourne on Thursday.

"If I get the opportunity to play with him, it’ll be a great learning experience to watch the way he goes about it and how he takes on other teams.

"I don’t see it as a hindrance, I see it as an opportunity to learn from someone who, in my opinion, is the best in that position."

Harris concedes he "let an opportunity slip" by letting his Test form tail away towards the end of last summer. Having reached at least 20 in six out of seven completed innings against India, including two scores in the 70s, he faltered against a weaker Sri Lankan side by posting scores of 44, 11 and 14 to leave his immediate Test future under a cloud.

Particularly when his new opening partner Joe Burns peeled off a career-best 180 in the final Test of the summer, Cameron Bancroft showed impressive touch on his return to the first-class arena, and Warner proved that 12 months out of the game had done nothing to satisfy his insatiable hunger for runs.

But a stellar finish to the Shield season, including a match-winning 141 in the final that guided him to just the second 1100-run season in a decade, has brought Harris right back into the equation.

Harris scores third Shield final century

And sharpened his focus on the three A matches in July that will determine his Ashes fate.

"They’ve said there’s competition for spots, which there is, so I think that Aussie A series will be heavily weighted,” he said.

"It’d be a dream come true, playing in the Ashes. But there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge yet."

Marcus Harris was speaking at Kayo's Cricket World Cup launch in Melbourne. Kayo will have every match from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 LIVE. Sign up for a 14-day free trial here

Australia A tour of the UK

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

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 v Northamptonshire, The County Ground, Northamptonshire

June 23: Australia A v Derbyshire, County Ground, Derby

June 25: Australia A v Worcestershire, New Road, Worcester

June 30: Australia A v Gloucestershire, Bristol Country Ground, Bristol

July 2: Australia A v Gloucestershire, Bristol Country Ground, Bristol

Four-day fixtures:

July 7-10: Australia A v Sussex, Arundel Castle Cricket Ground, Arundel

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

July 23-26: Australia v Australia A, Ageas Bowl, Hampshire