Australian star Marcus Harris returns to Gloucestershire this season determined to book his spot in this summer’s Ashes squad.
Harris hit three centuries and two fifties in Division One of the County Championship last season, with 726 runs in total in his nine matches and returns, having helped Victoria to the Sheffield Shield final, where he made 19 and 1 as they were beaten by Western Australia.
Harris, 30, is not currently in the Australian side but was part of the Test squad for five home Tests during their summer without playing. He did not travel to India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but told the Cricinfo website that, in conversations with Australia chairman of selectors George Bailey and coach Andrew McDonald, it has been made clear that he remains on their radar to play in England because of his experience there.
Harris will open the batting against Glamorgan today for the start of the County Championship season and is set to lead a line of left-handers with Chris Dent, James Bracey, Miles Hammond and Ben Charlesworth the leading candidates to fill the top five batting slots.
“Marcus will open. He brings a real class to the batting line up and experience on the field and in the changing room,” said head coach Dale Benkenstein. “He has been brilliant for us at the top and he is pushing for that spot in the Ashes so we want to be part of the process for getting him into the Australian team. That is where he fits in best for us and that’s where his future lies for us as well.”
If Harris get the Ashes nod, it seems unlikely that a short-term replacement will be signed, with Benkenstein talking up the chances of 22-year-old Charlesworth moving to the top of the order. He ended last season in that role and has performed it for England Under-19s and Benkenstein said: “Ben Charlesworth is for me a quality player.
“He is not an international player so to say that he is going to fill the shoes exactly like Marcus is a big ask. But I do believe that he has a really good future ahead of him and the only way he is going to get better is by playing, so I have full confidence in him going in there.
“We do have a few plans for the T20 where we can get someone in who could also fill Marcus’ role - but in a different way where Charlie could still get his opportunity at the top of the order then we have another batter who could fill a middle order role.
“But it’s all up in the air - I would think Marcus would get picked but I don’t know, however if you look at his record in England you would find it very hard for them not to pick him.”
Harris and Dent are set to be followed in the order by Bracey - with Benkenstein allaying concerns over the two-Test England man’s dual role with the wicketkeeping gloves.
“We clarified that last year,” he said. “I think it was unusual circumstances with incredibly good weather and a lot of injuries, where our bowling attack probably wasn’t as attacking or penetrative as we would have liked.
“So we spent a lot of time on the field and he ended up spending a lot of time as a keeper. It was a concern that it was affecting his batting so we tried moving him down the order, giving him a bit of time off and I think it was a good exercise - as I don’t think it made any difference.
“I feel he is more suited to batting at number three - and he will start in that spot and still keep. I think his keeping has improved massively and that’s a real step forward for him and we feel it is best for him and the team to bat at number three and keep.”
As for the bowling attack, Benkenstein has already hailed new arrival Marchant de Lange as “a great signing” and says he is already having an influence on the club’s young bowling crop.
The 32-year-old, who played two Tests for South Africa, has moved up the M5 from Somerset on a three-year deal and signs as a domestic player having received his England qualification. He will add pace and aggression to the county’s attack and will take on extra responsibility in the early weeks of the season with left-arm stalwart David Payne recovering from ankle surgery.
“Marchant has already been a great signing,” said Benkenstein. “He has brought a lot of energy into the squad - he is a leader. He has really made an effort with all the bowlers, helping them, even down to our Academy bowlers.
“That side of it has been fantastic to see and on the field he does give us that pace and aggression, with ball and bat.
“I think he has a bit of point to prove after last year, when he didn’t play much cricket, and he is raring to go. But we have got to look after him as well - it’s a long season and we are mindful that it’s the nature of our situation here, we have a lot of players that play all formats.
“We don’t have the luxury of having 90 people in a squad and then departmentalising them in to white ball and red ball. We have to be quite clever because our best team in all three formats has a lot of the same people.”
Payne’s injury and Ryan Higgins’ departure has opened the door for some of the county’s youngsters to take their chance - as Tom Price did at the end of last season, with Ajeet Singh Dale, Dom Goodman, Josh Shaw, Matt Taylor and Zaman Akhtar adding talent and real depth to the attack.
In the spin department, Zafar Gohar’s return “forms a big part of our strategy,” says Benkenstein. “He just got better and better as the season went on with bat and ball and we feel like we have a real weapon there,” he said. “He brings us a real point of difference and I think he is the best spinner in domestic county cricket when you take out your overseas international bowlers and that is something we make sure we utilise from the start.”
