Pucovski suffered a concussion when he received a blow to the helmet at the end of Australia A’s game against the Indians at Drummoyne Oval.
Will Pucovski has joined David Warner to be excluded from the first Test against India at Adelaide Oval with Marcus Harris called up as a replacement.
Pucovski suffered a concussion when he hit his helmet at the end of Australia A’s game against the Indians at Drummoyne Oval, the ninth concussion he has suffered, meaning a likely test debut has been called off.
Warner suffered a groin strain in the second ODI against India and will miss at least the first test with doubts about whether he will be ready for Melbourne.
Harris played the last of his nine tryouts on the 2019 Ashes tour when he battled England’s rhythm attack, but has since made some technical adjustments alongside Victoria’s new coach Chris Rogers. He started the Sheffield Shield season with 239 and had 355 runs in three innings. He has been part of the Australian A team in both games against the Indians.
Harris, who made his Test debut during the previous tour of India in 2018-19, is confident heading into retirement and has enjoyed not being the center of attention at the start with all the focus on other starters.
“It feels like I’m in the right place at the right time, but I feel like I’ve been playing really well too,” he told Fox Cricket. “I knew coming here that if it went well I would put myself in a position to play maybe, how things have gone.
“But this season I have only concentrated on what I need. Obviously I was not on the test side last summer, so I did not have that distraction this summer and I have only concentrated on what I have to do, so it has been well. Now I have found myself where I am, I feel quite ready to go and am looking forward to it. “
Australia has a lot of questions about its starting partner for the first test with Joe Burns, the team’s other specialist starter, amid a losing streak of form with just 61 runs in eight innings this season. He made a duck on the first day of the warm-up game for the pink ball.
“Given the series of injuries in recent weeks, we are fortunate to be able to bring a player of Marcus’s caliber to the Test team,” said national coach Trevor Hohns. “Marcus has been in outstanding form for Victoria this season and has had the advantage of taking on the Indian bowlers in both matches of the three-day tour at Drummoyne and under the lights at SCG.
“At the same time, we are disappointed in David and Will that they will not be available for the first trial. We have taken a conservative approach to managing Will since he suffered the concussion and hope that he and David will regain full health. Boxing Day test “.
A possible promotion scenario for Marnus Labuschagne to start has been complicated by the concussion suffered by Cameron Green on matchday one at SCG. He was substituted out of the game, but has not yet been ruled out for the opening test.
Andrew McGlashan is deputy editor of ESPNcricinfo
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