Marcus Harris' century in County Championship takes him closer to WTC final selection

Harris hit a classy innings of 121 during Lancashire's first innings of their four-day clash against Northamptonshire at Northampton's County Ground in what was a timely reminder of the left-hander's prowess ahead of next month's one-off Test decider against South Africa.

It was Harris' third century of the County season and sees the 32-year-old sit at the top of the leading run-scorer charts in Division 2 of the County Championship with 749 runs, with his batting average now sitting north of 80 following his latest efforts with the bat.

Harris top-scored once again in the second innings of the match with 43 as Lancashire fell to a 70-run loss to Northamptonshire, and his form with the bat won't go unnoticed, less than one month out from the start of the World Test Championship Final at Lord's from June 11.

While Harris hasn't played a Test for Australia since the start of 2022 and was overlooked for the 2023 World Test Championship Final despite being part of the 15-player squad, there appears to be a vacancy at the top of the Aussies' batting order as Pat Cummins' side attempt to find the best mix to help them defend the mace they won at The Oval two years ago.

Travis Head, who is the eighth on the ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings, opened with veteran Usman Khawaja during Australia's most recent Test tour of Sri Lanka, but the attacking left-hander is expected to revert to his preferred position at No.5 for the one-off Test with the Proteas.

Teenager Sam Konstas impressed at times during the Border-Gavaskar series with India over the Australian summer and could come into contention for the opening berth, while long-time No.3 Marnus Labuschagne recently revealed he would play two matches in the County Championship prior to the World Test Championship Final and could also be considered as Khawaja's partner.

Cameron Green and Beau Webster have shown some good signs in the County Championship and may be battling it out for a place in the middle-order, but Harris' recent form bodes well for his selection in Australia's squad for the World Test Championship Final.

Australia will submit its squad of 15 players to the ICC over the coming days, and Harris' timely contributions with the bat put him in the reckoning for at least a spot in the squad.