Australian head coach Justin Langer confirmed that Marcus Harris will retain his place for the third Test at Melbourne starting next Sunday.
Australia is currently leading the series by 2-0 after winning the second Test match by 275 runs. Though Marcus Harris had terrible numbers in these two test matches. The Victorian opener scored 3, 9*, 3 and 23 in his 4 innings so far in the series.
But the coach Langer is confident that Harris will turn it around at his home ground.
‘He’ll play, no worries about that. This is his home ground. He’s played a lot at the MCG. He hasn’t made the runs he’d like to so far, but he dominates domestic cricket. So he knows that he knows how to play.
“For him and for us, we’re hoping he plays well and gets a good partnership with Davey Warner in this Boxing Day Test match,” Justin Langer said.
Marcus Harris scored only two fifties in 12 Test matches
The coach also believes that backing a player in tough times can do wonders for his confidence. He gave the example of his own playing days when he got the back of his captains.
“That’s absolutely one of the most important things in life, knowing people have got your back,” the coach said.
“My experience, when Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Mark Taylor or Allan Border said ‘you’re in the team’, you feel like Superman. You feel like you’re important to the team and Marcus Harris is important to the team.” he stated.
However, this might be the last chance for Marcus Harris to prove his worth. He has a dismal record in his 12-Test career so far. In 23 innings he scored with an average of 22.19 including only two fifties.
The Victorian opener has been doing well in domestic cricket though. Last month he scored a hundred in a Sheffield Shield match against a formidable attack of New South Wales.
Earlier this year he also played in the County Championship for Leicestershire. The Australian opener scored 655 runs with an average of 54.58 including 3 hundreds.
Notable that Marcus Harris’s opening partner David Warner had a similar run in the last Ashes series 2019 where Warner scored just 95 runs in 10 innings but the team management backed him after the series.