On any other day Sam Harper’s call-up to Australia’s Test squad would have been headline news but that was taken by Nic Maddinson’s shock return. However, it remains a notable moment for someone who has surged into contention only this year.
At the beginning of February, Harper was averaging 24.86 with three first-class hundreds from 64 matches. Now, just five matches later, he has doubled his tally of centuries and has made a hasty journey from Puducherry, where he had made a hundred for Australia A, to Potchefstroom. On Saturday he was carrying drinks around the boundary at JB Marks Oval at the start of the low key two-day warm-up match.
He is the first wicketkeeper called into the Australia’s Test squad beyond Alex Carey and Josh Inglis since Jimmy Peirson was part of the 2023 Ashes tour when Inglis returned home for the birth of his child. While Harper’s runs have produced eye-catching numbers, and have certainly propelled him towards the Test team after Inglis’ fractured finger, chair of selectors George Bailey referenced his evolving glovework.
“[With] Harps the batting’s been wonderful, but I think the keeping, he’s worked incredibly hard on that,” Bailey said. “And given what we saw last summer and what we expect here, [there’s] that ability now for keepers to do their work back to the quicks and do their work up to the quicks, and [we’re] expecting that we’re going to get a heavy amount of spin.”
However, it has been Harper’s work with the bat that has transformed his career after an elevation to the top of the order for Victoria as a tactic to counter tricky batting conditions in the Sheffield Shield. He responded with back-to-back centuries against Western Australia and a 93 against Tasmania. His hundred for Australia A came back in a middle-order role, in conditions that favoured spin bowling, showing the versatility that the selectors value highly.
“He has been batting pretty well with a different role and a slightly different mindset, which is certainly working,” Bailey said.
