Ryan Harris is a serious doubt for next week’s first Ashes Test in Cardiff after being ruled out of Australia’s tour match against Essex at Chelmsford.
Harris was named in the tourists’ team overnight for this four-day encounter but was replaced by Peter Siddle following a fitness test in the Essex nets this morning.
A Cricket Australia spokesperson confirmed Harris’s long-standing knee injury had flared up again after he bowled 30 overs in the team’s opening tour match against Kent last week.
Coming just a week before the first Test against England, Harris is now unlikely to start the series, especially as those overs against Kent were his first in senior cricket for six months.
Harris had missed Australia’s recent Test series in West Indies to attend the birth of his son, Carter. Before that, he last bowled during Australia’s final Test against India in January.
There had been talk Harris would be rested for Cardiff anyway such are the pace options Australia have at their disposal. But surely they would want a man who has taken 46 wickets at 19.45 in his previous two series against England available for selection.
