Australia's Ryan Harris reveals he could have represented England
Aussie seamer Ryan Harris, who dominated England on the first day of the 2nd Test at Lord’s, revealed that he could have been playing for the hosts instead.
Harris ripped through the English top order with three crucial wickets of Joe Root, Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott, of which the first two came in the space of just five balls, giving the hosts important early breakthroughs and hope to win this important Test.
After England finished the day at 289-7, Harris admitted had he could have been representing England instead of Australia.
Harris, born and raised in Sydney, has a British passport because his father was born in Leicester and committed himself completely while playing for English county Sussex in 2008 .
But Queensland later picked up the Sussex seamer on the condition that he commit himself to Australia.
In an interview after the end of the day, Harris said : “Last time I was in this building I had a meeting with (former England captain) Mike Gatting about that passport.
“I travelled here to play a little bit, and having an English passport made it a bit easier.”
“But dad moved over to Australia when he was 10 or 11, so he was brought up an Aussie and brought me and my brother up as Aussies.”
“It was a messy situation. I had a really good offer for Queensland that came through at the time, and that’s where I thought I might have one last crack at trying to play for Australia. Obviously, it was the right move.”