Marcus Harris has advised the Australian batsmen playing the Boxing Day Test starting 26 December against India not to judge the surface of the Melbourne Cricket Ground too soon.
The MCG pitch is expected to have a green cover, offering something for the bowers, but Harris, the opener, for whom this is a home ground when he plays for Victoria, said it could make for plenty of runs for anyone who dug in.
Remembering the Sheffield Shield game between Victoria and New South Wales in October, he said he had thought the game would be over in a day and a half because of how green the pitch looked, but went on to make 250, which helped him break into the Australian side.
“Pre-match when I saw the wicket I was really freaked out and I thought, ‘This game’s going to be over in a day and a half and we’ve got blokes trying to vie for Test spots,'” Harris told ESPNcricinfo about that match. “So I went into the game with no expectations on myself and the wicket actually played pretty well.
“It was relatively slow and stayed together. I saw this morning the wicket will probably be more similar to the South Australia game, where it had a bit more green grass on it, nipped around a bit but it was one of those wickets where if you play well you can make runs but if you bowl well you can take wickets.”
The last Test at the MCG was a high-scoring Ashes draw. This time, patience would be key, pointed out Harris, who is on his debut series.
