Ashes 2021-22: Marcus Harris to open with David Warner, confirms Australia chief selector George Bailey

Australia’s chief selector George Bailey has confirmed that Marcus Harris will open the innings with David Warner in the upcoming Ashes series. The left-hander is rated really highly among the cricket pundits in Australia. His numbers in the domestic arena are fantastic to say the least. In the ongoing Sheffield Shield season, he recently scored a brilliant ton smashing 137 which more or less sealed his place.

He has been an absolute run machine for Victoria in the last few seasons. Harris made his Test debut for Australia in 2018 against India during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2018/2019. In what turned out to be a rather forgettable series for the Aussies, he was one of the few positives for them.

Despite that, he has been a touch inconsistent in his Test career so far and has been in and out of the Test squad. The 29-year-old has scored two fifties in the 10 Tests he has played so far.

Harris likely to get an extended opportunity this time

Coming back to George Bailey’s confirmation, he praised Marcus Harris for his superb returns at the first-class level. Bailey was mighty impressed with his consistency and felt that he is the ideal candidate to accompany Warner in the battle for the “Urn”.

“Harry’s had limited opportunities in the past, and he’s been in and out a bit, so we’d love nothing more than for him hopefully to get an opportunity to get an extended run at it,” Bailey said on radio RSN. “What we have liked is his consistency.

“He’s obviously been a prolific run scorer at domestic level here, but we also love the fact he went overseas and had a great year for Leicester as well.” Bailey continued. Harris was a part of the Aussie squad during the Ashes in 2019 as well. However, he would love to make a mark this time around and seal his spot at the top of the order in the longest format of the game.

All eyes would be on him as Australia have been desperately searching for an opening partner for Warner who can consistently score runs. It is also a well documented fact that Harris is only getting chance as preferred opener Will Pucovski has suffered concussion yet again, for the 8th time in his career, and is set to miss at least the first Ashes Test.