Marcus Harris has marked his show of faith from Australian cricket chiefs with a gritty county championship half-century that demonstrated why he's in line to win an Ashes recall.
Harris's surprise inclusion in the national contract list announced on Thursday has propelled the opener back into pole position to win back his Test place after a 14-month exile.
And on the first day of the championship season in England on Thursday, he showed why he's seen as such a safe bet as he held Gloucestershire's innings together amid testing fare at Cardiff with wickets tumbling around him.
The left-hander, who's secured a contract for Australia ahead of Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb, kept Glamorgan's attack at bay for three hours on a difficult, rain-hit opening day, scoring 59 off 129 balls.
Harris was the mainstay of Gloucestershire's total of 165 after they had been sent in and succumbed largely to Australian-born Dutch international paceman Timm van der Gugten, whose medium-quick seamers earned him 5-26 off 17 penetrating overs.
After rain interruptions at Sophia Gardens, the 30-year-old Harris, who'd only arrived in the UK earlier in the week after playing for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield final, was the model of patience as he dealt expertly with a swinging, seaming ball, taking 92 balls before finally scoring the first of his six boundaries.
He was the seventh wicket to fall, beaten by an inswinging full delivery from his namesake, James Harris, with the score on 108.
Other Australians fared impressively too as the championship got under way rather damply with the sun playing hide-and-seek.
Allrounder Sean Abbott helped shore up Surrey's innings at Old Trafford, coming in at number nine to rattle up an unbeaten 34 off 57 balls, with three fours and a six, as the visitors finished on 7-340, largely thanks to 76 from England wicketkeeper Ben Foakes and 86no from Cameron Steel.
Nathan McAndrew made a bright debut for Sussex at Hove, earning his first wicket for the county with a lovely away-swinger and later trapping danger man Graham Clark, who hit six sixes in his 47 as Durham reached 7-352.
The Wollongong paceman McAndrew ended with impressive figures of 19-2-69-3.
The evergreen 41-year-old West Australian quick Michael Hogan, who surprised everyone by moving to Kent after a distinguished county career with Glamorgan, showed his worth once again, picking up 2-36 off his eight overs as Northamptonshire collapsed to 7-89 on another rain-ruined day.
With PA
