Harris on alert for Sri Lanka

Australia fast bowler Ryan Harris used the Indian Premier League as an elongated fitness test. Now he has been been alerted by the national selectors to be ready to return to the Australian Test attack against Sri Lanka in August.

Given how well Harris combined with Mitchell Johnson to fire out England during the third Ashes Test in Perth, it is natural the selection chairman Andrew Hilditch wants to see more of him. A return of 20 wickets at 24.40 from his first five Tests showed Harris to be a valued member of an attack that now has a new bowling coach in Craig McDermott.

"I've got an indication they're still keen for me to play that longer form of the game, so now I've got six to eight weeks before Sri Lanka," Harris told ESPNcricinfo. "Queensland are about to start in pre-season, so I'll get into that, get into some serious gym work and fitness work. [I will] get myself fit and stronger, and by that time [in time for the Sri Lanka tour] I'll have bowled a fair bit and hopefully I'll be bowling well enough to get picked. I'm definitely aiming for that tour."

McDermott marked his promotion from the Centre of Excellence by indicating that he wanted his charges to be fitter and more capable of bowling consistently. Such a vision is in line with Harris' own harsh assessments of himself.

"I've seen some good reports about him and obviously the cricket that he's played himself, he's in a position where he can give good advice, and knows a bowling action," Harris said. "It's exciting; it's going to be different but good. He's worked with Troy Cooley as well so I guess he's passed on some information, and it's exciting to see him start.

"My aim now is to get back to the level I was bowling. I've always got to try to improve, and to stay fit for the next two or three years before I finish my career. I just want to get back to feeling good, getting my pace back up and getting the shape of the ball back there.

"I felt as though in the IPL I struggled with that and got a little frustrated with it. But that's my goal in the next six to eight weeks, to get that really comfortable feeling; to run in and bowl fast and put the ball where I want to put it."

Harris, 31, posed the most consistent questions of any Australian bowler during the Ashes, before he was waylaid by an ankle fracture during the Melbourne Test. He is also constantly managing a battered knee that needs the addition of new cartilage. Harris has elected to avoid such a procedure due to the 18 months it would cost him in the latter days of a career that did not truly bloom until he was nearing 30.

Playing for King's XI Punjab, Harris plucked 16 wickets at 23.87 during the IPL, suffering the occasional collaring but overall doing enough to suggest he is capable of making an impression on the Sri Lankans in subcontinental climes. Any lingering discomfort in Harris' ankle and knee dissipated as the tournament progressed.

"Everything's spot-on at the moment, which is good," Harris said. "It took me probably four or five games to get into it again and get the body used to bowling. The ankle was a little bit tender from the surgery; not so much the break but just where the screws were inserted, so it probably took two or three weeks to get over that pain. Once I got over that everything was good.

"The knee was a bit tender, but it never never really swelled up, and the pain or tenderness that was there, disappeared, the more I played. Everything on that front is going well, which is good because we weren't sure how the knee was going to pull up after not playing for three or four months and then going into a tournament where you play games only two or three days apart.

"I was a bit surprised myself to be honest how I went, but another test will come when I start playing the longer form again."