Former Test opener's big WTC push
Just as the deadline looms for Australian selectors to pick their squad for the World Test Championship final, Marcus Harris made another hundred in England to take his county run haul past 700 for the season.
The Australian squad for the June showdown against South Africa at Lord's needs to be submitted to the ICC on Monday, and Harris, who was part of the Ashes touring parties in both 2019 and 2023, has sent a timely reminder of his abilities in England.
Harris has been prolific in recent county seasons and, despite being pushed to the outer of the Test side by the emergence of teen tyro Sam Konstas, has continued to deliver piles of runs, this time for Lancashire.
His latest innings was a five-hour, 230-ball knock on a difficult Northampton pitch, hitting 18 boundaries and taking advantage of being dropped twice.
Harris finished with 121 against the Darren Lehmann-coached Northamptonshire on Saturday, his third century in a month.
The 32-year-old, who played the last of his 14 Tests in 2022, made another 43 in the second innings and has compiled a county-leading 749 runs in 10 innings, including three 50s as well as his three tons, at an average of 83.22.
His hundreds included 138 at Lord's against Middlesex and 167 at Old Trafford.
Harris has 140 runs more than any other batter in England this country season across both divisions.
There remains contention about who could open the batting with Usman Khawaja amid speculation that Konstas could be overlooked after a limp end to the Sheffield Shield season.
Marnus Labuschagne is also about to begin a county stint and as been touted as an opening option.
In the 2019 Ashes, Harris only made 52 runs in three Tests after replacing Cameron Bancroft at the top of the order. He didn't play a game in 2023.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Manchester City's New Signings Mark New Era In Pep Guardiola's Tenure
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak vowed the club would be 'aggressive' in this summer window after ending last season empty-handed. So far, City has lived up to al-Mubarak's words and then some. In nine days since the transfer window opened, City has already completed the signings of AC Milan and Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders for £46.3m ($62.7m) and Wolverhampton left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri for £31m ($42m). A deal for Olympique Lyon attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki, meanwhile, has been all but finalized. As per The Athletic, Cherki will move to England for £33.7m ($45.6m). City must register their new signings by 7pm BST (2pm EST) on Tuesday to have them available for the Club World Cup, which begins next week. The significance of City's spending spree is two-fold. First and foremost, it comes with a verdict into alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial rules still hanging over the club. In February 2023, City was formally charged with breaking financial fair play rules between 2009 and 2018 and with failing to co-operate with Premier League investigations into their finances. The club's hearing in the case against the Premier League began on September 16 last year and ran until December 6 in front of a three-person independent commission in London. Back in February, Pep Guardiola admitted he expected the verdict 'within a month'. His forecast has proved to be wide of the mark, with the commission yet to return a judgment six months after the hearing ended. By comparison, it took UEFA just two days to find City guilty of financial manipulation in January 2020, a verdict which was subsequently overturned on appeal. With a judgment still pending, City has wasted no time in reshaping its squad after spending $245m on players in the January transfer window. Omar Marmoush joined from Eintrach Frankfurt, while Savinho and Nico Gonzalez arrived from Troyes and Porto for respectively and centre-back Abdukodir Kushanov signed from Lens. The spending spree was not enough to prevent City from finishing without any silverware for the first time since the 2016-17 season, Guardiola's first campaign in the Premier League. City has won the Premier League six times in the past eight seasons, but finished third 13 points behind eventual champions Liverpool last season and never looked like retaining its crown. The Champions League brought an elimination at the hands of Real Madrid in the Round of 16 and there was heartbreak in the FA Cup final for the second consecutive year with defeat to Cyrstal Palace. In that respect, the arrivals of Reijnders, Aït-Nouri and Chekri point to a clear desire to refresh the squad. Despite the $67.8m arrival of Gonzalez from Porto in January, City's midfield lack of physicality and running power was badly exposed both domestically and in Europe. The issue was exacerbated by the absences of reigning Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, who missed almost the entire season with a knee injury, and Mateo Kovacic. Reijnders' arrival should go some way towards addressing the lack of dynamism in City's engine room. The Dutch international was arguably AC Milan's player of the season, with 10 goals and four assists in Serie A. Among midfielders, only Scott McTominay, had more goal involvements with 16. City's new signing, who turns 27 next month, also ranked fifth for through balls and ninth for forward passes in Serie A last season. Milan signed Reijnders from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2023 for $22.8m, but he netted only four goals in 50 appearances across all competitions – a figure that should have been much higher. When he met him in Saudi Arabia in January for the Italian Super Cup, former Milan manager Stefano Pioli teased him about his frequent shots off target. Twelve months on, Reijnders found the same promising positions but now with newfound composure, leading to a significant increase in his goal tally. His shots on target more than tripled last season (from 0.25 to 0.87 per match), while his conversion rate more than doubled, soaring from 10% to 23%. With Kevin De Bruyne leaving the Etihad Stadium as a free agent after 10 trophy-laden years and Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva approaching the winter of their careers, Reijnders could become a key figure in City's midfield. Just like the Dutchman, Aït-Nouri's arrival addresses a glaring weakness in Guardiola's squad. According to Opta stats, in the season just ended among defenders only Trent Alexander Arnold had more goal involvements per 90 minutes than Aït-Nouri, with 0.34 to 0.32 respectively. The prototypical modern full-back, who can use his athleticism to burst forward and is comfortable with the ball at his feet, the Algeria international is a versatile player. Aït-Nouri played at left wing-back under Vitor Pereira following the Portuguese's arrival at Wolves in December. Pereira switched between a five-man defense and a 3-4-3 formation, with the 24-year-old operating as an attacking wing-back in both circumstances. The Algeria international played in the same role under Gary O'Neill, Pereira's predecessor, when he was also deployed further forward as a left midfielder. But of the trio of signings, it is arguably Cherki who is the most intriguing. The 21-year-old is coming off a breakout season, with 12 goals and 20 assists in all competitions and made his France debut last week, scoring in the 5-4 defeat against Spain in the Nations League semi-final. Cherki also scored in both legs of the Europa League quarter-final against Manchester United and was named in the Europa League Team of the Season. Data from Opta shows he outperformed City's attacking midfielders - Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Savinho - in all but one category last season, shots per 90 minutes. Cherki and Doku both took 2.2 shots per game, while Savinho and Foden took 2.8 and 3.0 respectively. The Frenchman, however, led the quartet in goals per 90 minutes with a 0.4 figure, compared to Foden and Doku's 0.3 and Savinho's 0.1. Cherki's 0.6 assists per game were the high watermark in the category, when compared with Doku's 0.4, Savinho's 0.3 and Foden's 0.2 and he was also significant better in terms of creating opportunities. The Lyon midfielder set up 3.7 chances per 90 minutes, comfortably ahead of Savinho and Foden with 2.3 and Doku with 2.1. A versatile player who can operate either as attacking midfielder or on the wing, Cherki is gifted with superb technique and looks ready to fill the void left by De Bruyne. Former Arsenal striker and current CBS analyst Thierry Henry said he has "never seen a player in history who dribbles as quickly as him". High praise indeed. The Premier League has been warned.


Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
Man City signs left back Aït-Nouri from Wolves ahead of Club World Cup
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City signed Algeria left back Rayan Aït-Nouri from Wolverhampton for a reported fee of 37 million euros ($42 million) on Monday. City has been deploying center backs Nathan Ake and, more recently, Josko Gvardiol at left back in recent seasons but now has a specialist option in Aït-Nouri, who is a very attacking full back. The 23-year-old Aït-Nouri joined Wolves from French team Angers in 2020. His contract at City runs to 2030 and he will be available for the new-look, 32-team Club World Cup, which starts on Saturday. City is in the same group as Juventus, Al Ain and Wydad Casablanca and its first match is on June 18. ___ AP soccer:


Fox Sports
2 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Can South Africa finally break its ICC curse in the WTC final? Conrad confident
Associated Press LONDON (AP) — South Africa is at the business end of another world cricket championship and is haunted by the ghosts of losses past. An infamous failure to win any cricket World Cup, often in heart-breaking fashion, weighs on the Proteas who are preparing for the World Test Championship final against titleholder Australia on Wednesday at Lord's. South Africa's only global title was the Champions Trophy 27 years ago. It has never reached the ODI World Cup final, falling in the semifinals five times. When it got to the climax of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Bridgetown — its first world final since 1998 — it needed 30 runs off 30 balls with six wickets in hand against India. And lost by seven runs. Five of that 11 are in the WTC squad. 'It doesn't weigh heavy on us,' South Africa coach Shukri Conrad said on Monday before practice. "It's unfair to burden this group with anything that's gone before. But you can't wish things away. We want to and we need to win another ICC event. But whatever tags come along, we don't wear that. 'It's another occasion to set the record straight, to get that first title. And you can only win it if you play in finals, and the more finals you play in you obviously improve your chances of winning. So we've got another chance. We had a chance not so long ago in the West Indies, in the T20 World Cup. Hopefully, this time, we break that duck.' Conrad brought up the choker tag to the team last December in the dressing room at Centurion, where South Africa could clinch a spot in the WTC final with a win against Pakistan. In a chase of 148 to win, South Africa was 27-3 at stumps on day three. 'I thought it was the opportune time to lay down the challenge,' Conrad said. "If it didn't go our way, we had another chance in Cape Town. It didn't go down ... kindly, but at some stage that conversation needs to be had. It's all about choosing when to have that. So we had it the evening before, and the result worked out okay. 'We touched on it briefly the other day. Around, what were the learnings from that? What sort of response we can expect, and we're looking for.' Proteas batters look overmatched South Africa starts against Australia as the underdog. A lot is riding on seamers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen restricting the Australian batters. On the batting side, the entire Proteas squad has totaled 22 centuries. Australia star Steve Smith has 36. Conrad was unfazed. 'There's a quiet confidence amongst the batting group,' he said. "It comes with having gotten hundreds from different players at different stages. Whilst they might not have the superstar names amongst them, as a collective we are pretty confident. 'Guys really go out there and fight for every run, every little contribution. You look at a guy like Tristan Stubbs. He doesn't bowl but you look at his celebrations when wickets get taken. That, for me, is the essence of what this team is about. But hopefully we'll see a few more names on those honors boards around the world. And those batting averages start nudging toward 40 and above, where you know you're on to something really good.' Half of the Proteas squad has never played at Lord's, but Conrad was enlightened and encouraged by advice from Stuart Broad, the England bowling great who retired less than two years ago. Broad was a former Nottinghamshire teammate of South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince. The Proteas staff dined with him on Sunday night and he joined them for practice on Monday. 'If I didn't call time at 10:50 (p.m.), I think he'd probably still be sitting there chatting to us," Conrad said. "Everybody walked away, like, 'Yeah, that was great.' Broady included.' Broad advised about the Lord's slope, the Dukes ball, how to bowl to the Australians, and embracing the occasion. 'We get a chance to walk away as the world test champions. Playing Australia, doesn't get any bigger than that,' Conrad said. 'What's gone before counts for absolutely nothing at the minute. We are quietly confident going into this game that we can pull one over them. We're a confident bunch. We play well as a unit. If there's any vulnerabilities amongst them, I'm sure we'd be able to exploit that.' ___ AP cricket: recommended