Harris not ready for Pakistan series

RyanHarris

Harris underwent surgery in March in a bid to fix a long-standing knee complaint with a view to playing in next year's ICC Cricket World Cup.

The 34-year-old belied doubts over his condition in the early part of the year, featuring in 12 consecutive Tests as Australia secured series victories over England and South Africa.

After taking 22 wickets at an average of 19.31 in the home Ashes whitewash, Harris was the hero in South Africa as he took two wickets in the space of three balls on day five of the final Cape Town Test to seal a memorable 2-1 triumph.

Those performances have seen him jump to second in the Test bowling rankings behind Dale Steyn, but an October comeback will be too soon for the 24-Test paceman.

Michael Clarke's side will play two tests against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates before welcoming India over the Australian summer.

Team physio Alex Kountouris told Cricket Australia's official website: "We're certainly not looking to [Harris] to be right for the UAE at the moment.

"He's going to start running in the next couple of weeks and we'll see how his knee responds to that and hopefully it'll respond the way we expect.

"If he copes with that, we'll transition him into bowling.

"We're looking for him to be able to play somewhere before Christmas.

"Hopefully it'll be the India Test matches and he'll play some Sheffield Shield matches before that, but until he starts running and then bowling it's very hard to predict what's going to happen."

Another Australian on the sidelines is opening batsman Shaun Marsh.

The 31-year-old worked his way back into contention for the South Africa series, making a stunning 148 on his comeback outing in Centurion.

However, he too will be unable to build on that after undergoing surgery on an elbow injury.

"It's a pretty significant injury," Kountouris said.

"We don't see it much in cricket; it's more common in baseball.

"Cricketers tend to cope with just a short period of rest and they come back and do well. Shaun has had a short period of rest, but it's still a problem and we know that surgery takes a long time to recover.

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