RETURNING former Test paceman Ryan Harris thundered into Ashes calculations with a spell that destroyed Tasmania’s top order in the Sheffield Shield final.
The 33-year-old Queenslander produced a miracle spell of 4-6 in 5.3 overs to have his side back in a decider that had looked a lost cause over the first three days at Bellerive.
He finished exhausted, with figures of 4-32 after a total of 54 overs in the match.
It continued a superb return from Harris’s latest injury setback, adding to some impressive figures in his handful of games for Queensland this season.
Harris took 6-58 and 2-48 in the Bulls’ last-round victory over Western Australia and 4-26 in the one-day final win over Victoria.
Bulls physiotherapist Martin Love said Harris had pulled up well but was unlikely to bowl again in a match his side can’t win.
“I think he’s proved everything he needs to prove in terms of his fitness for the selectors going forwards,” Love said.
“He wasn’t knocking over tailenders either so I think he’s ready to go.”
With Australia’s attack struggling in India, albeit on unfavourable pitches, Harris’s name is sure to be in the mix for the Ashes series beginning in July.
The paceman played the last of his 12 Tests, from which he has 47 wickets at 23.63, in April last year in the West Indies.
He underwent shoulder surgery last August and, before February, hadn’t played any serious cricket since May last year.
In three Shield games in recent weeks he’s racked up a massive 153 overs, including 40 in the first innings of the final against the Tigers.
“When Ryan Harris is bowling at you, whether he’s injured or he’s bowled 60 overs, he’s always at you and he’s always trying to get you out and he’s in the contest,” Tasmanian keeper/batsman Tim Paine said.
Harris has said he will try to keep his momentum in the IPL and then, hopefully, with an Australia A tour to England before the Ashes.
He is also considering a county stint to adjust to conditions for the crucial series, should he be required.-AAP
