Join now and get your first month for just $1 ><\/a><\/p>\n\u201cMarcus has been a consummate professional this summer,\u201d Lancashire\u2019s Director of Cricket Performance Mark Chilton said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has scored over 1000 red-ball runs and captained the side on three occasions during a particularly tricky period.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1756769048_562_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking forward to welcoming him back to Old Trafford for the next two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris, who made the most recent of his 14 Test appearances in early 2022, has emerged as a potential candidate to open the batting alongside Usman Khawaja in this summer\u2019s Ashes.<\/p>\n
Last month, the 33-year-old revealed that he has been in regular contact with national selectors, who put him on standby to replace Steve Smith for the Test tour of the West Indies after the Australian vice-captain broke his finger during June\u2019s World Test Championship final.<\/p>\n
Australia has been searching for a Test opener since David Warner\u2019s retirement at the start of last year, trialling Nathan McSweeney, Travis Head, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne and Smith with mixed success.<\/p>\n
Following Konstas\u2019 struggles in the Caribbean \u2013 where he contributed 50 runs at 8.33 \u2013 national coach Andrew McDonald suggested that Sheffield Shield runs would contribute to Ashes selection, opening the door for Harris\u2019 potential recall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just feel like I know my game better than I ever have before,\u201d Harris told CODE Sports last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be a shock to the system to be in the middle of an Ashes series.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus Harris of Lancashire. Photo by Shaun Botterill\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the County Championship this week, New South Wales opener Daniel Hughes posted scores of 21 and 16 during Sussex\u2019s drawn match against Hampshire in Hove, while Tasmania\u2019s Caleb Jewell notched 56 and 9 for Derbyshire\u2019s stalemate against Middlesex at Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, several of England\u2019s fringe fast bowlers pushed their Ashes credentials in the County Championship this week, with speedster Olly Stone playing his first first-class match of the year.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old, who underwent knee surgery earlier this year, bowled 29 overs on debut for Middlesex, taking just one wicket in a promising albeit underwhelming return to red-ball cricket.<\/p>\n
Stone, capable of exceeding 150km\/h, could make his Ashes debut this summer if he proves his fitness ahead of the marquee series.<\/p>\n
Fellow quick Josh Tongue, England\u2019s leading wicket-taker during the recent home Test series against India, claimed seven scalps during Nottinghamshire\u2019s three-wicket victory over Worcestershire in Worcester.<\/p>\n
Durham seamer Matthew Potts took 3-95 during another rain-affected draw against Essex in Chelmsford, with a shoulder injury to veteran seamer Chris Woakes<\/a> opening the door for his potential Test return.<\/p>\nSurry seamer Gus Atkinson, who enjoyed a breakout summer in 2024, has continued his successful return from a hamstring injury with three wickets in a draw against Warwickshire at The Oval, while during the same match, England vice-captain Ollie Pope posted twin fifties to temporarily silence lingering concerns about his red-ball form.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, former Test spinner Jack Leach claimed 2-9 during Somerset\u2019s drawn match against Yorkshire in Taunton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ashes hopeful Marcus Harris has wrapped up his successful County Championship stint at Lancashire with an unbeaten half-century…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-136836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}