There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Ryan Harris is a fantastic bowler. On playing ability alone, he deserves his call-up to the Australian squad for the SCG Test starting Tuesday. Harris is strong, zippy, swings the ball, and one time, I believe, he took four wickets with a single delivery.
Unfortunately, his right leg fell off while delivering that magical ball and he had a three month layoff from cricket.
The crazy thing is that Harris’ leg falling off in a match is not far from the truth.
Throughout his career, the main issue for the stocky Queensland quick has been that he can’t stay fit.
I have often thought Harris would have been a more appropriate casting than Samuel L. Jackson for the role of Mr Glass in the film ‘Unbreakable’. Though it is possible he is even more fragile than that character.
That said, Harris’ international career resume contains some impressive numbers.
He has a haul of 35 wickets at 21.37 in Test cricket and 41 wickets at 16.12 in One Day Internationals. But these numbers alone don’t paint the whole picture of Harris’ time in Australian colours. To help paint a better picture, we inevitably need more numbers.
From when he made his ODI debut in January 2009 against South Africa until his last ODI against England, Harris played in just 17 of Australia’s 59 matches. Since that last ODI against England in July 2010 Australia have played 29 matches without the name R.J. Harris on the team sheet.
This includes a trip to the World Cup where a fit Harris could have been a significant contributor to what was eventually a failed campaign.
More worrying given his selection for this Test is that, since making his Test debut against New Zealand in March 2010, Harris has played in just 8 of Australia’s last 19 Test Matches. Knee, ankle, and hamstring injuries have plagued him during that time. Like the old cricket club stalwart who makes a comeback every year only to get injured in his first game back, Harris’ body can’t keep up with what the mind is still capable of.
There is no way that Harris should play in the SCG Test (I would call it the New Year’s Test but that seems a tad inappropriate given that the start date keeps pushing further away from New Year’s Day) ahead of the bowlers who strutted their stuff in a famous Australian victory at the MCG.
Peter Siddle has hit a strong rhythm and appears to be making the ball hit the bat (as opposed to the other way around), Ben Hilfenhaus swung the ball and looked to be quicker than he has been in some time, and James Pattinson has been a revelation with his aggression and perfect hair.
And although off-spinner Nathan Lyon struggled at times in Melbourne, he has had a promising start to his Test career and shouldn’t be dropped on the basis of one sub-par performance. The Australian selectors have only recently managed to slow down their out of control spin bowler merry-go-round and would be cutting off their nose to spite their face if they dropped Lyon by going into Sydney with four quicks.
It is a massive shame that Harris struggles on the injury front.
On talent, he should be a walk-up start for the Test side. But when it boils down to it, Harris is 32 years old and he can’t stay fit. This is a combination of characteristics about as appropriate for elite sport as shyness and a propensity to suck one’s thumb.
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