“The bare numbers don’t always tell the full story”: Aussie selector hints at Harris reprieve
Australian selector Tony Dodemaide has provided an update on the names in the mix for the fifth and final Ashes Test in Hobart.
Usman Khawaja mounted a compelling case to retain his spot having been rushed into the team for Travis Head, with 137 and an unbeaten 101 in the fourth Test.
Head, who was ruled out of the last match after he tested positive for COVID-19 in Melbourne, averaged 62 over the first three Tests with a high score of 152 in Brisbane.
It leaves the selectors with the responsibility of telling an in-form batsman that he won’t be playing in the Apple Isle.
“That’s certainly the most challenging conversation to have,” Dodemaide told SEN Mornings.
“I think we’ve got to just let things settle for a day or two… there’s a few things to take into account before we finalise the selections.
“We also need to see exactly how people pull up physically and medically… remember the past two games, we’ve had to make forced changes based on COVID.
“We’re not making too many assumptions as yet.”
Dodemaide wouldn’t be tempted to confirm the popular Khawaja would remain in the side, and suggested the cooler conditions and the format could sway selection.
Even Australian captain Pat Cummins said the 35-year-old would be “hard to go past” for the final Test, though he carefully noted that he is not among the selectors.
“He’s a quality player, coming off very strong performance,” Dodemaide admitted.
“(But) we’ll need to see the conditions here at Bellerive, we haven’t been able to get to the ground.
“We’ll get to the ground for training tomorrow, and have a look at the pitch there… it’s a pink ball, it’s a day-night, so all those considerations will need to be taken into account.”
Head was the nominal winner of the ‘bat-off’ over the summer, likely preferred on account of his age in an otherwise flip-of-a-coin decision.
The South Australian made 394 runs at 49.3 throughout five matches for his state, while the Queensland captain recorded 460 runs at 65.7 over the same span.
Given the pair have carried their fiery first-class form into the Test arena, to settle on one seems impossible.
“He’s a very strong candidate (to return), of course,” Dodemaide went on.
“He came into the team and did so well in the early part of the series… (but) we certainly don’t have too many locked-in perceptions at this point in time, until we get all the information.
“Trav has played extremely strongly, so he’s got a strong claim.”
The player who could be squeezed out is 29-year-old opener Marcus Harris, who has made 179 runs at 29.83 so far this summer.
Harris hit the winning runs in Brisbane and made starts in Adelaide and Sydney, but has passed 50 only once in seven digs.
Khawaja has opened the batting on seven occasions in Test cricket, and scored 484 runs at 96.8, with two centuries and two fifties.
Dodemaide defended the Victorian however, and cited his match-high 76 on a bowler-friendly pitch in Melbourne.
“The bare numbers don’t always tell the full story,” he asserted.
“It’s much like a lot of performances and a lot of selection conundrums we do have. He’s had a number of starts which could have gone on to more consequential innings.
“But that 70 odd that he got in Melbourne only two weeks ago was the most consequential innings in the match. He set up the score for Australia which eventually led to the innings win.
“So even though it wasn’t a hundred and I know he would be desperate to record his first hundred as an opener, 76 in those conditions was probably as good as a hundred.”
Harris’ state teammate Scott Boland is in some doubt for the final Test, the seamer having pulled up sore after he sent down 38 overs in Sydney.
Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser, who both played in the second Test in Adelaide, are waiting in the wings if the 32-year-old needs a rest.
“Scotty’s a pretty resilient character,” Dodemaide explained.
“If you asked him he’d say he’d be perfect. We have got the benefit of a little bit of time, so we haven’t talked to the medicos as yet.
“We’ll get the full report with the benefit of another day or so’s recovery time, we won’t have a training session until tomorrow and we’ll get a full update then.”
Meanwhile, left-armer Mitchell Starc’s name has come up in regards to a rest.
The 31-year-old has been the constant of the Australian attack this summer, having featured in all four Tests and bowled 134.1 overs - 30 more than any other bowler.
Along with his 15 wickets, Starc has anchored the lower order and chipped in with 151 runs at 75.50 - more than Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Jos Buttler and Haseeb Hameed.
“He’s very much now in as an all-rounder and not just as a premier fast bowler,” Dodemaide enthused.
“And sometimes you don’t get the wickets but you’ve also set them up. You’re bowling as a team and setting it up for the other bowlers around you.
“(We’re) very conscious of what his workload has been, he’s an important player for us not just for this match coming up but for the white ball series and the next, really heavy four or five months.”
Dodemaide said the selectors do have an eye to the Australians’ three Test tours of the subcontinent later in the year.
Khawaja is expected to feature having honed his approach to spin, Boland could extract life from slower pitches, while leg-spinner Mitch Swepson looms as critical despite not having been capped.
Having narrowly missed out on the ICC World Test Championship final in the 2019-21 cycle however, players and selectors are anxious not to spurn an opportunity to rack up points.
“There’s always a balance of short and medium-term considerations,” Dodemaide explained.
“We certainly want to finish strongly here, and in the context of the World Test Championship, it is very important that you maximise every opportunity.
“We do want to figure and compete in that Test Championship which isn’t too far away, and that’s based on the total number of points you record against those available in each of the games you play.
“There is a very strong incentive to win every game, but there is also the medium term. We have not just Pakistan coming up, but a tour of Sri Lanka in the off-season as well.
“You don’t want to have a whole lot of disruption from one game to the next and one series to the next.”
The fifth Ashes Test will take place at Bellerive Oval in Hobart from January 14 to 18.