Harris ready for Test after 'closure' of Hughes' funeral

Fast bowler Ryan Harris is confident he will be ready to return to Test cricket at Adelaide Oval next Tuesday, after what he called the "milestone" of Phillip Hughes' funeral on Wednesday.

The Australians gathered in Adelaide on Thursday after farewelling Hughes in his hometown of Macksville, and they must now look ahead to the first Test against India. Earlier this week, Harris said he was unsure how he would feel about playing a Test only six days after Hughes' funeral, and that he might have to wait until he reached Adelaide to make a decision.

Coach Darren Lehmann has said that he would like the players to honour Hughes by taking the field in Adelaide, but would understand if any individuals felt they were not ready. Harris said on Thursday that he had noticed a shift in the mood of the playing group in the hours after the funeral, and that there was a feeling that it was time to play again.

"Walking down that main street in Macksville, following the hearse and seeing all those people lining the side of the road really struck a chord with me," Harris wrote in his column in the Age. "It was then that I knocked Mitchell Johnson on the arm and said: 'Far out, this is why we've got to play next week.'

"Seeing the green and gold streamers was a reminder these people want to see some cricket played, want to see us get out there and beat the Indians. We've spent a lot of time together over the past week thinking and talking about Hughesy. We did more of that on Wednesday, first in Macksville and then in Coffs Harbour.

"One thing I noticed late on Wednesday was how the mood in the group had begun to shift. There were a few conversations about getting back to playing. The funeral was a bit of a milestone. As well as to pay your respects, it gives you a bit of closure. Now it's done I think there are a few more guys determined to get back on the park - but there's still a couple who are really hurting."

Harris trained with the Queensland squad earlier in the week and has bowled plenty of deliveries in the nets as he prepares for a Test comeback following off-season knee surgery. But some members of the Test squad are yet to return to any sort of training after Hughes was struck by a bouncer last Tuesday, and will only do so in Adelaide over the next few days.

"I know some guys have really struggled," Harris wrote. "Some haven't even picked up a bat or ball yet since it happened. They're just not going to know, until they pick a bat or ball up, whether or not they're going to be capable of playing."

One of the questions that will be answered in Adelaide is whether the players will feel any differently about bowling bouncers or displaying their usual aggression after the events of the past ten days. Harris said he was sure last Tuesday's accident would be in the back of the players' minds, but he believed Australia could maintain their usual attacking style of play.

"We'll definitely be maintaining our aggression; that's how we play well," he wrote. "That's what we do. That's the Australian way, so we'll get back to doing that. It's what those people I walked past on Wednesday in the procession would want, and what they would expect."