I'm going to have to make a lot of runs to get back into the team, admits Marcus Harris
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Having failed to breach the 20-run mark in his last six innings, Marcus Harris seems to have come back to square one after an impressive display against India. The recently concluded Ashes was a nightmare for openers and now it's time for Harris to worry about his spot for the upcoming season.
Marcus Harris, who earned a national team call-up after racking up 1,118 runs in a Sheffield Shield season, the highest in the last 4 years, now will have to do something heroic again to retain his place in the national team and he seems to admit the fact.Â
"I'm going to have to make a lot of runs, you don't have to be Einstein to work that out," Harris told cricket.com.au.
But it won’t be an easy task because he is not the only one who will be fighting to earn a chance to open with David Warner, who seems to be an obvious choice in the upcoming Test series against Pakistan, even after his recent failure. The list includes the likes of recently axed No. 3 batsman Usman Khawaja, Joe Burns, who scored a ton in his last Test match and Cameron Bancroft, who Harris replaced this Ashes.Â
"I'm going to have to make a lot of runs in the first four Shield rounds to keep my spot. I've been that situation before so it's nothing different for me. I'm just going to have to go out there and churn runs out. We've got four games, all on good grounds, so hopefully I can put myself in position (to be selected) for the first Test.” said the Victoria opener.Â
"I have had a tough little patch … but cricket turns around and changes so quickly that I've always got it in the back of my mind that it takes one good innings to get on a roll." the 27-year-old added.Â
Harris will be starting his Shield outing with the Victoria when they face South Australia in their first match of the season at Junction Oval.Â
Re-living the English nightmare, Harris admits that the duo of Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer is the toughest challenge he has faced coupled with the Indian seamers. The duo prized his wicket five times out of six during the Ashes.Â
Having called back into the squad after a surprise omission following his promising start during the summer, Harris replaced a struggling Bancroft at Headingley. But he couldn’t generate the desired result alongside his struggling partner, Warner.Â
"Just with the seam (movement) it was so difficult," Harris explained. "It was a great challenge … in English conditions those guys were very difficult. It was tough personally not to really get away at all. It was just conditions so different to what we play in with the ball seaming so much.” said Harris, who only scored 58 runs in 6 innings in the Ashes.Â
"There wasn't too much swing, but it was more the seam that was a real challenge and the way that Broad and Archer bowled early on made it a great challenge. It wasn't a great series for us (openers)." Harris added before bowing out.Â
