New Delhi, April 6 (IANS) Cricket Australia chief selector George Bailey has hinted that Marcus Harris is in line to be David Warner's successor and will become Australia's long-term Test opener. Harris, who last played a Test in January 2022, spent last summer as the spare batter with the Australian Test squad before being overlooked in favour of Matthew Renshaw for the SCG Test, and was then left out of the squad that toured India.

But the 30-year-old received a vote of confidence on Thursday when he was named ahead of a host of other key batters in Cricket Australia's contract list for the 2023-24 period. Bailey has indicated that Harris is their favored choice as they have important Tests against England and New Zealand scheduled in the next 12 months, along with home series against Pakistan and West Indies.

"Looking ahead, back in England, another home summer and then some Tests in New Zealand, we certainly rate Harry's ability in those conditions," Bailey was quoted as saying by Cricket.com.au.

"He has a really strong record in England as well and one of our criteria, when we're doing the contracts, is past performances and one is an eye to the future as well so that perhaps gives us an indication of where we hold Harry." he added.

The 30-year-old batter earned the spot on the 24-player list of men's contracts ahead of rival batters Matthew Renshaw, Cameron Bancroft and Peter Handscomb, the trio who won upgrades during the most recent period.

Australia's current Test openers -- Usman Khawaja and David Warner -- both are turning 37 before the year is out and Bailey knows they won't be available for selection for too much longer and he need new openers soon.

"Not being rude towards Usman or Davey, but there's no doubt those two are closer to the end than the start of their careers, so we're going to need some depth.

We're going to need all three of those guys (Bancroft, Handscomb, Renshaw) performing really, really well for us. And hopefully they make our decisions incredibly challenging over the next little while," Bailey said.

Bailey further said selectors would announce a squad for the World Test Championship final and first two Ashes Tests in the coming weeks.

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)