Maddinson and Harris push Test claims with Shield tons

Nic Maddinson and Marcus Harris pushed their Test claims yesterday with tons for Victoria on the opening day of the new Sheffield Shield season.

Maddinson (195*) and Harris (116) put on 220 for the first wicket against South Australia as the other main contenders for a Test opening berth all failed.

At the Gabba, former Test openers Joe Burns (13), Usman Khawaja (1) and Matt Renshaw (19) all were dismissed cheaply versus NSW, while Ashes opener Cameron Bancroft made 30 for WA against Tasmania in Perth.

Although it’s still early days – the Test squad to face Pakistan may not be announced until after the third or even the fourth round of the Shield – Harris and Maddinson made sure to cash in on a flat surface at the Junction Oval.

The former is an incumbent in the Test team, having opened with David Warner in the final three Tests of the Ashes. Harris has faded badly after an encouraging start to his Test career last summer. In his last eight innings for Australia he has scraped together just 83 runs at 10.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

Most alarming is the fact that, during this period, he has consistently been troubled by deliveries on a good length on or just outside off stump. This is a weakness that elite Test quicks are able to exploit and which Shield bowlers are less capable of targeting. Yesterday the South Australian attack gave Harris far too much latitude.

Maddinson, meanwhile, continued his extraordinary run of form since moving from NSW to Victoria last summer. In six Shield matches for Victoria, the left-hander has piled up 758 runs at 108, including four tons from just nine innings.

He has a chance today to push on and make the kind of monster score that has seduced the Test selectors in recent years. Harris earned his Test debut last summer on the back of making 250* early in that Shield season. The previous summer Bancroft forced his way into the Test line-up by cracking 228* just before the 2017-18 Ashes squad was picked.

Maddinson would have started this summer well back in the Test pecking order. He has played mostly as a middle-order batsman in recent years and Australia have a logjam of players competing for spots between three and six in the Test line-up.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matt Wade and Mitch Marsh occupied those positions in Australia’s last Test, while the likes of Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Kurtis Patterson all have strong claims for a recall.

What Maddinson displayed yesterday, though, was his impressive versatility. After finishing the last Shield season batting at four for Victoria, he stepped up to open yesterday.

Given his aggression and lack of a water-tight defence, Maddinson looks better suited to the middle order. He batted at six in each of his three Tests in the 2016-17 summer when he laboured badly. Maddinson was a very odd choice to make his debut at that time considering his Shield form was ordinary.

At just 27 years old, with 12 first-class tons to his name, he may yet make a Test comeback at some point. Maddinson helped Victoria finish the day in a dominant position at 1-362, with batting prodigy Will Pucovski on 46*.

In Perth, Marcus Stoinis (61), Josh Philippe (48), Mitch Marsh (41) and Bancroft (30) all failed to capitalise on their starts. Meanwhile in Brisbane, 13 wickets tumbled on the opening day as bowlers enjoyed a reasonably helpful Gabba surface.

All eyes were on axed Test quick Mitchell Starc, who took the new ball against Burns and Renshaw. Starc is no certainty to play the first Test against Pakistan due to heavy competition for pace spots from the likes of James Pattinson and Jhye Richardson. The express quick had a disappointing day, finishing with 0-42 from 17 overs as Harry Conway (5-17) and Sean Abbott (3-25) ran amok and Queensland were rolled for 152.

Then beanpole Queensland quick Cameron Gannon cut through the NSW top order, grabbing three wickets from his first 14 balls. Among those scalps was Test superstar Steve Smith for an ultra-rare duck. The badly out-of-form Warner, fresh from the worst Test series of his career in the Ashes, made it to stumps on 27* with NSW at 3-50.

If Maddinson goes on to post a massive double ton today, he could put himself in contention to open with Warner in the first Test. Stranger things have happened – you need only think back to the last time Australia picked him.