Australian opening batsman Marcus Harris is prepared to make an impact if he gets a chance in the Ashes series against England, even though he expects opener David Warner to play the fourth Test at Old Trafford from Wednesday.
Warner's place in the side remains a matter of speculation after his twin failure in Leeds, where he fell to Stuart Broad in both innings as England prevailed by three wickets to stay alive in the five-match series.
Warner has managed one half-century in six innings in the series but forged three fifty-plus opening partnerships with Usman Khawaja.
"Davey's obviously a bit of a lightning rod for opinion," Harris told reporters on Sunday.
"But I think they've done really well – as an opening partnership when you can get the team off to a good start.
"Even if you’re not getting the big runs that you want to get, if you can still contribute to the team in some way, shape or form, I think you're doing a job."
Australia are considering ways to accommodate both Mitchell Marsh, who smashed a hundred and grabbed two wickets in Leeds, and the all-rounder he replaced, Cameron Green, who sat out the third Test with a hamstring strain.
Given a chance, Harris said he would grab it with both hands.
"The training we can do now with how big the squad is as a collective ... is as good, if not better, than playing a game of cricket," said Harris, who played the last of his 14 Tests against England in Sydney last year.
"All you can do is prepare the best you can. Like we saw with Mitch [Marsh] last game, you never know when your chance will come up. "If I am called upon, I am ready to go."
England have named an unchanged squad for the fourth Test in Manchester.
Ashes second Test fourth day - in pictures
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
