North Albury's Joe Harris claims four wickets on debut against Raiders

North Albury's Joe Harris made a spectacular debut against Wodonga Raiders, snaring 4-13 from seven overs.

Ryan Addison arrived in the 2016-17 season and stayed with the Harris family for more than three years.

"Obviously you have a lot of different relationships with people at the club, but to watch Joe grow not only as a cricketer, but also a young man, is quite heartwarming," he revealed of the link between the pair.

"I see him more as a little brother than a team-mate and I've got a great relationship with his dad (popular North secretary Darren), who looked after me."

Addison presented the 17-year-old with his cap before the away game and both broke down.

"I've got so much emotion with what happened last week, it clearly got the better of me," Addison suggested in reference to his partner giving birth.

The pair had spent an enormous amount of time together.

"We lived together for years, we'd play basketball in the backyard and backyard cricket, I looked up to him as an older brother," Joe explained.

Like all youngsters, Harris had dreamt of his debut, but it was a rocky start.

"I dropped a catch, which wasn't the greatest on debut," he said.

"I took four steps forward, it was a pretty easy catch."

Th No. 11 also didn't get to bat, but he made up for the quiet start with the ball.

"He was just too accurate for them," Addison remarked.

"He hit two on the front foot (to claim leg before wicket), the wicket was staying low and because he's tall and has a tall action, the bounce wasn't there as they expected and it certainly caught a few out."

And Harris didn't get the lower order, he dismissed the opener and numbers three, four and five.

"I don't have the pace just yet because I'm not strong enough, but on that pitch, it was doing a bit, it was crumbling, so I just had to put it on the spot, use the full ball and then bring it back to a good length, but I just had to make sure they had to play every ball," he remarked.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Harris, who came through North's juniors, has put pressure on selectors with players returning from either injury or unavailability.

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