Australia A opener Marcus Harris argued he wasn't sure whether he edged the ball when he was given not out on 48 on day two of the ongoing second unofficial Test against India A in Melbourne. The left-handed batter claimed even his teammates weren't sure if the ball had hit the bat on its way to the slips.
The incident happened when off-spinner Tanush Kotian slid one down the leg side and Harris tried to flick it. The ball took a deflection and went to the slip fielder. India A were confident it came off the bat but the umpire wasn't moved and adjudged it not out. The Perth-born cricketer went on to score 74 to help the hosts to a decent lead of 62 after the first innings.
Speaking to reporters after the day's play, Harris, who has 14 Test caps, said he would have walked off without any hesitation had the umpire ruled it out, stating, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo:
"I hit my pad on the way through. Hence why I stood my ground. Then the umpire gave it not out, so I was like, I don't know. But then we watched the replay and I think the boys said they watched it 20 times and you couldn't really tell. So the god's honest truth was I wasn't sure. But if they reviewed it and said you'd hit it and got caught, I would have [thought] fair enough. It just went my way."
No other Aussie batter got to a half-century as they collapsed to 84/5 at one stage. Contributions from Jimmy Peirson (30), Nathan McAndrew (26*) and Corey Rocchiccioli (35) put Australia A in a promising position and finish at 223 in their first essay.
"I feel pretty well-equipped" - Marcus Harris on playing Test cricket
When asked whether he has done enough to seal the second opener's spot ahead of Australia's Test series against India, Harris remained unsure. However, he was proud of his efforts at the MCG. The 32-year-old stated:
"I don't know, it's a good question. I think, externally obviously this game was getting built up a lot, which is fair enough. I feel like I've been batting well, but so have lots of other people. So if I get called upon I feel like I'm ready to go, and if I don't, then so be it. I feel pretty well-equipped. I think maybe if I was in this position 12 months ago, I probably wouldn't have been able to perform the way I have at the start of this season. My results last year probably said that. So I've been proud of that."
By stumps, India A had slipped to 73/5 against Australia A, leading by just 11 runs.
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