Australia A looms for in-form Harris but lifeless Junction decides opening Shield match

Victoria 428 for 9 dec & 120 for 2 dec (Harris 52, Chandrasinghe 44) drew with Tasmania 527 for 9 dec (Webster 113, Hope 111, Silk 84, Perry 3-79)

Marcus Harris added 52 to his first-innings century to continue to build his case for a Test match recall but both sides bemoaned a lifeless Junction Oval surface as Victoria and Tasmania dawdled to a draw on day four in Melbourne.

Harris made 52 off 70 balls in the second innings, after scoring 143 in the first, as Victoria cruised to 120 for 2 off 52 overs in their second innings on the fourth day after Tasmania had declared overnight with a 99-run lead. But given the surface had so little life in it, there was no prospect of Tasmania taking 10 wickets with time left to chase a target and the captains agreed to call the game off just before tea on the final day.

Harris played with similar fluency to his first innings, striking eight boundaries in his 52 before nicking a very full delivery from Kieran Elliott to potentially cost himself a chance at twin hundreds in the match.

Ash Chandrasinghe was challenged by left-arm orthodox of Matt Kuhnemann, who tried to extract something from the footmarks outside the left-hander’s off stump. Chandrasinghe made 44 from 128 before Kuhnemann finally got one to bite from the dust to bowl him through the gate.

Campbell Kellaway and Peter Handscomb blunted the bowling thereafter to thwart any chance of a collapse. Jordan Silk even tried himself for an over before the game was called off.

Despite the flat nature of the pitch, player of the match Harris was pleased with his return. He had a brief conversation with Australia selector Tony Dodemaide on the ground after the match and revealed he looks set to play for Australia A against India A in a few weeks time.

“He asked if I wanted to bat six and bowl seam up in the Test side,” Harris joked. “He was just talking about the Aussie A stuff. I think that’ll come out the next few days.”

Australia A play two four-day matches against India A in Mackay and Melbourne before the Test season. Cameron Green’s likely absence from the XI opens the door for Harris to win a place in the side through performance, especially if Steven Smith moves back to No. 4 as expected.

“It probably wouldn’t hurt if you made runs in it,” Harris said. “I’ve been in the situation a few times now where I’ve played those games. It’s not like it’s going to be the first time I’ve ever played for Australia A before a Test series. There’s obviously always a bit of attention around those games. Pressure wise, I’m not going to be trying to put the same pressure on myself as I had before. It will just be a great opportunity.”

Victoria coach Chris Rogers and Tasmania coach Jeff Vaughan were left frustrated that a result was not possible. Silk and Handscomb had held discussions on the third day about trying to manufacture a result but could not find common ground, which both coaches stated was understandable given it was the first game of the season.

There was no blame placed on the curator at the Junction Oval given the weather in the lead-in, but Rogers did not sugarcoat the result.

“That’s not great for cricket and anyone involved,” he said. “We have a bit of a history here early on in the season of just having wickets that we we try different things, but we can’t seem to get anything out of it. So it’s frustrating.”

Vaughan did not have an answer as to how to avoid these early season results, particularly in the two most southern states of Victoria and Tasmania.

“I’ll feel for curators in that regards, because it is darn hard at this time of year to get high-quality result wickets,” Vaughan said.