In-form Harris sends reminder with county double-ton

Marcus Harris was left disappointed after being overlooked for a Test recall in the summer but looks in the mood to remind selectors about his prowess as an opener as he recorded a record-breaking double hundred for Leicestershire.

The 31-year-old left-hander, back with the English county where he had such an impressive season in 2022, converted his overnight score of 77 not out into a superb knock of 214 off 303 balls on Saturday – the highest individual score by a Leicestershire batter in over 150 years of matches at the home of rivals Derbyshire.

Harris, a late signing for Leicester after his fellow Victoria batter Will Pucovski had to pull out following another concussion, is already looking a terrific addition as he came close to beating his lifetime best – an unbeaten 250 – scored in the Marsh Sheffield Shield against NSW in 2018.

"It's my first hundred since coming back to the club, so that's been really nice," said Harris, who had opened his season with a fluent 50 against Yorkshire at the start of April. 

"I feel like I've been batting quite well, without a big score in the first couple of games, so it was nice to do that today. It was a great day, to end up putting 5-574 on the board."

Harris was passed over when selectors sought a replacement for the retiring David Warner as they opted to push Steve Smith up to the top of the order so they could fit allrounder Cameron Green into the side.

Although he had a tough Shield season by his fairly prolific standards, Harris looks in fine touch to push his case again through county runs, with fellow Test-capped batter Peter Handscomb ready to be his assistant plunderer.

On Saturday at Derby's County Ground, the pair put on an excellent 153-run stand for the fourth wicket, before fellow Victorian Handscomb fell for 68, trapped lbw.     

"It felt different in a green shirt and with the (Leicestershire) fox on it, but otherwise it felt pretty normal batting with Pete," Harris said.

"We've had some good partnerships over our time, myself and Pete, so it was good to have another good one today. He was batting beautifully, and our partnership went a long way to us getting those full batting points."

Harris moved to his century from 189 balls with a lovely straight drive for his 13th four and then needed only another 104 balls to make it a double, cashing in on wicketkeeper Brooke Guest dropping him on 167.

Beginning to really enjoy himself, Harris celebrated by smacking a couple of over the rope before getting bowled leg stump by Pat Brown after an innings which had stretched across almost seven hours, featuring 26 fours and those two sixes.

Needing 425 to avoid following on, Derbyshire then slumped to 4-54.

Elsewhere, Nathan Lyon had another busy day for Lancashire, sending down 24 overs and taking 2-65 as they laboured away at Chelmsford to bowl out Essex for 377.

Essex remain well on top, leading by 221 and with nine second-innings wickets in hand.

2024 Division Two County Championship standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	Drawn D	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Sussex SSX	14	8	2	0	4	3	40	40	237
2 Yorkshire YRK	14	5	2	0	7	0	41	40	217
3 Middlesex MSX	14	5	2	0	7	0	28	32	196
4 Northamptonshire NOR	14	2	3	0	9	0	22	35	161
5 Leicestershire LEI	14	1	3	0	10	0	28	31	155
6 Glamorgan GLA	14	2	4	1	7	2	22	30	146
7 Gloucestershire GLO	14	2	5	1	5	2	27	29	142
8 Derbyshire DBY	14	1	6	0	6	1	20	31	122

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

D: Drawn

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points

Australians in the 2024 County Championship

Durham: Scott Boland, Ashton Turner (T20s only)

Essex: Daniel Sams (T20s only)

Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne

Gloucestershire: Cameron Bancroft, Beau Webster

Hampshire: Michael Neser, Ben McDermott (T20s only)

Kent: Xavier Bartlett, Wes Agar

Lancashire: Nathan Lyon, Chris Green (T20s only)

Leicestershire: Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris

Northamptonshire: Chris Tremain

Somerset: Matthew Renshaw

Surrey: Sean Abbott

Sussex: Nathan McAndrew, Daniel Hughes