Harris stakes claim for first Ashes Test berth

SYDNEY - Australian pacer Ryan Harris, who is making a return from injury, has staked a claim for a first Ashes Test call-up taking 5-72 in a domestic fixture.

Queensland dismissed Tasmania for 196 in the Sheffield Shield match with the help of Harris’ five wickets haul.

Harris, returning from a knee injury, first took the wicket of Cosgrove then knocked out Tim Paine for just four, when the Tasmania keeper was caught in the slips trying to drive on the up.

Harris aggravated the knee injury while taking 5-42 in his Brisbane grade cricket return with Toombul in September.

Harris, 31, visited Melbourne surgeon David Young in early October fearing his right knee almost devoid of cartilage meant retirement was on the cards, with confinement to limited-overs ranks the next option.

But he has undergone a series of Synvisc injections into the knee - providing critical, artificial padding in the joint. The procedure extended retired Adelaide Crows AFL legend Andrew McLeod”s career by up to five years, Fox Sports reports. (ANI)