<p><strong>Melbourne:</strong> After hitting 74 for Australia A on the second day of their four-day game against India A at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, opener Marcus Harris said he would be ready to open the batting for Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy if called upon.</p>
<p>On a pitch still offering assistance to seamers, Harris kept India A at bay through his patient knock of 74 off 138 balls, which was laced with five boundaries, as Australia A made 223 in their first innings. The knock is bound to give Harris an edge over other competitors to partner Usman Khawaja in the first Test against India at Perth, starting on November 22.</p>
<p>“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 people. If I get called upon, I feel like I’m ready to go — and if I don’t, then so be it,” said Harris to reporters at the end of day two’s play.</p>
<p>Harris, who played 14 Tests for Australia and averages just 25.29 with the highest score of 79, feels he’s more well-equipped to take on the challenges of batting in the longer format than 12 months ago. “I feel pretty well equipped. I think 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,” he said.</p>
<p>“My results last year probably said that. So I’ve been proud of that. This time I’ve probably embraced it a little bit more than what I have before. I think in the past I’ve probably tried to really avoid it and built it up, whereas this time, I’ve probably just taken it as it’s come at me and accepted it for what it is,” he added.</p>
<p>He also credited timely advice from Chris Rogers, the former Test opener currently Victoria’s head coach for his dogged knock. “It was probably something that ‘Bucky’ (Rogers) said… to the whole batting group at Victoria, just about if the wicket’s doing a little bit, you don’t always have to look to hit it for four. Look to hit it for two.”</p>
<p>”It’s just something simple that resonated with me a little bit. Sometimes you come out and smack boundaries. Then days like today, I think I hit one four. I’ve definitely been able to tick the scoreboard over a lot more than what I have (in the past), and maybe that’s just subconsciously not looking to hit the ball so hard,” he added.</p>
<p>”I think a lot of the times when you do well on wickets like that you actually spend a lot of time down the other end. I think I got a bit fortunate with that. Today I think I batted for 50 overs and I might have only faced half the balls,” concluded Harris.</p>
<p><em><strong>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</strong></em></p>