Harris will open with Warner in the first Ashes Test, says the chief selector
“We’re leaning towards one of them,” Bailey said on Wednesday. “But, you know, the whole purpose I guess of naming a squad is to have a squad there. So, we’ll work through that much closer to the start of the first Test.”
Bailey joked with the media on Wednesday, holding firm as he was pressed to name one of the two left-handers for the opening Test. “No,” Bailey said when asked which player he favoured. “You’d have nothing to write about tomorrow then. I want to see where you guys lean. Have a crack at it. It’d make the Shield game much more exciting next week.”
Head started this season with 163 in a Shield game and 230 in a 50-over Marsh Cup game, but both came at the batting paradise of Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide. Since then, he has returned scores 55, 23, 9, 21, and 14 at three Test venues, but Bailey was not concerned about his form.
“You never want to be trying to pick someone out of form, but I don’t think there’s a body of evidence to suggest that Travis is out of form,” Bailey said. “I actually think they are both still batting beautifully.”
Khawaja will turn 35 in December while Head will turn 28. Bailey did note that the age difference was hard to ignore completely, but felt it was not a major influence on their decision-making.
“Try not to,” Bailey said. “There’s no doubt that’s one of many, many factors. But I think certainly for the here and now of winning this Ashes series, it’s not particularly relevant.”
“I really like Marcus Harris,” Bailey said. “He’s done everything that we’re asking in terms of scoring a mountain of domestic runs. He’s gone away, he’s had a really good, strong winter playing for Leicester as well. So he just continues to do all the right things domestically.
“We’d love nothing more than being able to back him in and give him an extended run up at the top of the order. We know how important opening partnerships are, trying to forge a really strong relationship with Davey at the top is really important for our Test team.”
“The squad is locked in,” Bailey said. “I don’t envisage that game being used as a selection tool. I think it’s very much about preparation.”
That means there is no room in the Test side for Mitchell Marsh despite his stunning T20I form that culminated in a Player-of-the-Match performance at the World Cup final. But he has been named in the Australia A squad.
“I think T20 and Test cricket are about as far removed as you can get from a cricket format,” Bailey said. “So we’ve just got to be really careful about necessarily assuming that the one will lead to the other but what I said about Mitch the other day, and I’ll say it again, is one, just how thrilled we are for him to have had the World Cup that he did and obviously to finish with the game he did in the final was just superb, and great reward.
“I think we should be seeing the best of Mitchell Marsh for the coming years. So really excited about what he can produce, and we know he can play at the Test level.”
“I’ve been in good contact with Mo,” Bailey said. “He knows that not being here as part of the A squad is not necessarily the end for him. We know he’s a quality player and he’s been particularly consistent.”
Alex Malcolm is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo