"Warner has earned right to pull pin whenever he wants": Marcus Harris on struggling opener

London [UK], July 16 (ANI): Australian batter Marcus Harris has accepted that he may not get to play as an opener at the ongoing Ashes series, saying that Warner has performed well enough to earn the right to "pull the pin whenever he wants" in the series. 
Warner has been under fire for his Test cricket form for an year or so, with a double century during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa last year being the only century he has scored in the past year or so. In the ongoing Ashes series, Warner has scored 141 runs in six innings at an average of 23.5, with one half-century. He has become a victim of Stuart Broad's lethal pace many times, taking the number of Broad's dismissals of Warner to a total of 17. 
Harris is only specialist batter in reserves after Matt Renshaw was released following the second Lord's Test. He is not expecting to feature in playing XI unless there is an injury to Australia's top five batters: Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head, as per ESPNCricinfo. 
Since Australia's loss at Headingley which has kept the series alive at 2-1, there have been talks to fit all-rounder Cameron Green in the team, especially after fellow all-rounder Mitchell Marsh's century made him indispensable. Marsh had earlier replaced Green when the young all-rounder had a hamstring niggle. 
Given his ongoing troubles against Stuart Broad, Warner has been mentioned publicly as a possible replacement. However, Green and others in the Australian team have downplayed speculation that he, Marsh, or Travis Head may start the batting at Old Trafford in the fourth Test. 
Harris also feels the same and accepted that he could not play until Warner's planned Test farewell early next year in January. Warner-Khawaja have produced three 50-plus stands in this series as compared to one by England's Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. 
"Davey's earned the right to pull the pin whenever he wants to pull the pin and he has done well this series," Harris said.
"England is not an easy place to open the batting and him and Uz (Usman Khawaja) have got us off to some good starts. So if I have to wait until then, so be it. But if something comes up earlier, I am ready to go. Davey's obviously a bit of a lightning rod for opinion."
"Even if you are not getting the big runs that you want to get, if you can still contribute to the team in some way, shape or form, I think you are doing a job. But that is coming from an opening batter so I am probably biased towards that," he concluded. 
Harris was called midway through the 2019 Ashes, which had seen Warner struggle heavily against Broad. He found the challenge tough as he could manage only 58 runs in six innings. 
Harris since then has had three years' worth of County Championship experience in England and has an impressive average of 45.83 in 52 innings, with nine centuries, including two for Gloucestershire this season. 
Given his own experiences in England, Harris warned against using a middle-order batter to open the innings. 
"I think it depends on the conditions and where you are," he said.
"Like you saw in the subcontinent, it is probably the best time so to have someone destructive like Heady, he can open the batting there. But I think probably in England and in Australia, the way the wickets have been the last couple of years, and New Zealand, those sorts of wickets, it is more of a specialist position. And you want your destructive players like Greeny or Mitch or Travis to be coming in against a bit more of an older ball."
"Maybe those first two wickets were alright. Definitely, Edgbaston would have been okay, but I think like we saw at Lord's, whenever there were some overheads, and at Headingley, it was hard work. My experiences from county cricket [are] if you cop the wrong time of the day to open the batting, especially if you are a destructive batter, it is probably not ideal," he concluded his point. 
Harris has a strong belief that he is a much better Test player now as compared to his England tour in 2019. 
"I have been exposed to a lot more conditions," Harris said.
"Since then I have been to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and played three county seasons here. Being an overseas pro to county teams is a different experience from playing Shield cricket. I just feel more well-rounded. That series taught me a lot in 2019. At the time it did not seem good, but I have probably benefited from it in the long haul."
"I feel like I am ready to go whenever that chance comes. Whether that is this tour or not, so be it. I am in a good place mentally and with life. Whenever it comes up, I will be ready to go," concluded the batter. (ANI)