Australia fast bowler Ryan Harris says no player will know if he is ready for the first Test against India until the whole team regroups in Adelaide after Phillip Hughes’ funeral on Wednesday.
Harris echoed Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland’s call on Tuesday that it was too early to speculate which players would take the field for the re-scheduled first Test next Tuesday.
CA confirmed a series of date changes to Australia’s four-Test series against India on Monday night, prompted by Hughes’ tragic death.
Adelaide Oval will now host the postponed first Test, with the game to start at Hughes’ adopted home ground two weeks after the 25-year-old was felled by a bouncer.
The postponement also raised the possibility that skipper Michael Clarke, who was ruled out of the original first Test in Brisbane through injury, might recover in time to play.
Harris said the players’ mindset may switch back to cricket when they are reunited as a group in Adelaide on Thursday after the funeral.
“Let’s get through that first. It’s going to be pretty bloody hard,” Harris told reporters in Brisbane. “It might be a bit of closure or it might take longer.
“The thing is no one knows. No one has been in this situation before losing a teammate, and a very good mate, and trying to play a cricket game less than a week later.”
But he added: “I think it will be really good to get together as a group again in Adelaide and support each other.
“If guys are unsure they might be able to talk it out or get a cricket bat in their hands and see how they go (in Adelaide) - we will wait and see.”
Clarke will need to prove his fitness to return from a third hamstring setback since August, but Harris said the players wanted him as their leader.
“We want him playing. He is our captain, our leader. Through the whole thing he has shown why he is that,” Ryan Harris said of Clarke.
“He’s hurting. We all are, but he has had a lot to deal with. He’s been unbelievable, we’ve had some good chats as a group the last few days and he has been fantastic.”
Sutherland, speaking on Tuesday en route to Macksville, said it would be up to each squad member to decide whether he’s ready for the first Test.
“Any player that is not comfortable or doesn’t feel right, or there is medical advice to suggest they’re not quite right, then we will obviously understand that,” he said.
“I’m sure the broader public will understand that as well.
“Understand that we and the Australian Cricketers’ Association will be supporting them and nobody will think ill of anyone who feels uncomfortable about it.”
Test players David Warner, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Nathan Lyon were in the field during last Tuesday’s freak accident at the SCG.
