Douglas James Harris (born 20 December 1962) is a former Australian cricketer. From Perth, Harris excelled at junior levels, and represented the Australian national under-19 cricket team in a three-Test series during the 1980–81 season.^[1] He was named Man of the Series after scoring 195 runs from five innings.^[2][3] From the early 1980s, Harris was regularly selected in state colts and second XI matches, though Tim Zoehrer was generally the first-choice wicket-keeper at state level.^[4] In a Sheffield Shield match against South Australia during the 1985–86 season, Western Australia's wicket-keeper Michael Cox was unavailable to keep wicket in South Australia's second innings. Despite not having been named twelfth man, Harris substituted for Cox as wicket-keeper, and recorded two stumpings off the bowling of Wayne Andrews.^[5] However, these dismissals are not included in his career records.^[6]

Harris continued to occasionally play in colts and second XI matches throughout the late 1980s. His sole match at first-class level came during the 1990–91 season, in a Sheffield Shield match against Queensland.^[7] In the match, held at the Gabba in February 1991, Harris played as a specialist batsman, opening the batting with Mark Lavender in both innings. He was dismissed for a duck in the first innings, but scored 23 runs in the second innings as part of a 61-run opening stand with Lavender (113*).^[8] At grade cricket level, Harris played for both Southern Districts (later Willetton) and Subiaco-Floreat.^[9][10] After retiring, he has filled several positions with the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) at various stages, including manager and coach of the state under-19 team,^[11] coach of the state second XI,^[12] state selector,^[13] state high-performance manager,^[14] and state talent manager.^[15] As state coaching manager, he was also involved in launching the Dennis Lillee Fast Bowling Academy in 2002.^[16]

References