Ryan Harris out of the first Test, injured knee continues to be a problem

Harris’ knee continues to cause him trouble

Ryan Harris’ knee injury has finally caught up with him. Last week in a match against Kent, Harris felt pain in his injured knee, and admitted that unless he got used to the feeling, it was going to be difficult to play in a Test.

As the team moved to Sussex, the knee injury got worse. Harris was resultantly unable to pass as fit for the tourist’s final warm-up game against Essex. This is a big disappointment for Harris, as he wanted to play in all the five Tests, and had put careful preparation into the series. He admitted that due to the injury, he will have difficulty bowling in the future, and not much bowling may be left in him. This will certainly worry the team management, as just towards the beginning of the tour, his fitness is already faltering.

He has now been ruled out of the first Ashes Test, and has been replaced by Peter Siddle on the first day of the game in Chelmsford. Coach Darren Lehmann believes that he needs to prove himself capable of playing a Test match before he could be considered for the Ashes, as that will be very demanding.

Without Harris, the bowling attack will comprise of Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood and spinner Nathan Lyon.