No place for Harmison as England name first Ashes Test squad

England have unveiled their squad for the first Ashes Test, starting at Cardiff on Wednesday, with Ian Bell and Graham Onions added to the XI that drew with Warwickshire in the three-day warm-up game at Edgbaston earlier this week.

Steve Harmison’s six wickets for England Lions – including twice removing Aussie prodigy Phil Hughes – have not earned him a recall. Monty Panesar has kept out a strong challenge for the second spinner’s slot from Adil Rashid.

National Selector, Geoff Miller said: “We were delighted with the way in which the team performed in the warm-up match at Edgbaston and it was very encouraging to see Andrew Flintoff bowl so well on his return to the side.

“We were keen to show consistency in selection and retain the nucleus of the side that performed so well against West Indies in the npower Test series earlier this summer. Graham Onions has made an excellent start to his Test career and gives us a different option when we consider the make-up of our bowling attack and the type of conditions we will encounter.

“ Ian Bell has performed well in county cricket this summer and he will act as cover batsman for this Test match should any of our established batsmen be unavailable through injury.

“There is healthy competition for places in our starting line-up at present and the strong performance by the England Lions against Australia at Worcester demonstrated that we are starting to develop a larger squad of players who can compete effectively with international class players.”

Squad Andrew Strauss (capt) Middlesex; James Anderson; Ian Bell; Ravi Bopara; Stuart Broad; Paul Collingwood; Alastair Cook; Andrew Flintoff; Graham Onions; Monty Panesar; Kevin Pietersen; Matt Prior; Graeme Swann

The day Durham won the title

The LV County Championship title went to the wire. Going into the last round, Nottinghamshire were top and had to hold their nerve against Hampshire to take the title. But, as Notts lost their way at Trent Bridge, Durham were sweeping Kent aside at Canterbury.

“We worked our knackers off to get that win,” says Durham keeper Phil Mustard, who started the season getting axed by England but made up for it by enjoying the most successful season in Durham’s history. “The party started once we got passed 400 [a lead of 175] because we knew Notts were struggling. When it came to the Saturday, we needed five wickets to clinch it. Once we got Justin Kemp out early doors, we knew we could finish it by lunch, and that’s when it really kicked off.

 “We got on the coach when Notts were about five wickets down, chasing 452, and one of the guys piped up on the bus and said, ‘This is what’s gonna happen: every time a wicket goes down you’ve gotta finish the drink that’s in your hand’. When it came to it, the last five wickets went down in quick succession – and we were drinking cans, not half-pints or anything like that. So by the time the ninth wicket went we’d had four downs in quick succession. There were a few people struggling.

“What made it even worse was, just as Tahir appealed for the last wicket, we went into the Dartford Tunnel and lost our signal. So for about three minutes we didn’t know if we’d won or not. It turned out we hadn’t, but as soon as we got out of the tunnel Shreck top-edged it and that was it. The party was just hotting up nicely then.

“It’s been great around town since: people have let us into pubs, they’ve let us do whatever. We had a members dinner on Monday night, and about 1000 members turned up just to see us pick up the trophy.”

Many of the 17 seasons since Durham were admitted to first-class cricket were spent propping up the table. That first year, 1992, a team of past-their-best big names finished bottom and it wasn’t until 1998 that the county even finished above 16th. Another veteran, David Boon, helped raise the county’s fortunes briefly in the late ’90s, but it was only with the promotion of 2005 that Durham finally become a force to be reckoned with.

Whatever the contributions of Durham’s canny signings in recent years, success has been based around a gang of local lads who came through their academy system, including Paul Collingwood, Steve Harmison, Graham Onions, Liam Plunkett and Mustard himself.  “We’re very close,” says Mustard. “We always go out together for a bite to eat and stuff. We’re just a young bunch of lads who enjoy a good time and share the bad times as well.”

Not that there were too many of those this year. Durham reached the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Cup and the Friends Provident Trophy and then clinched their first title. “It was great for people like Paul Collingwood and Steve Harmison – all the lads who played through the tough times, when we were getting beat every single week,” says Mustard. “Harmy’s a tough guy, but watching how beautiful it was and how much it meant to him was fantastic.

“The people of the North-east love their sport so much. We get a lot more newspaper coverage now, because we are the most successful team in the North-east. Newcastle aren’t doing very well. Sunderland have been up and down.

“You’ve gotta put a lot down to Geoff Cook. He’s a brilliant one-to-one coach, who understands exactly what people need. That’s how he got the best out of Stephen Harmison this year. Geoff knows exactly how to treat Harmy.”

Harmison was the star of the county season, taking 60 championship wickets, after being dropped by England in the winter. “Every time Harmy’s come back to Durham he’s bowled fantastic,” says Mustard. “He’s always enjoyed being here; he likes to get home and be with his family, and it’s same here: we’re like family to him. He enjoys it: he doesn’t get pestered by the media or by coaches. People just let him get on with what he’s got to do.

“There’s times where you’ll look at Stephen and you’ll think he’s not gonna get a wicket. You think, Harmy, have a break and come back later on. That’s happened a lot: he’s come back and been devastating in his next spell. The big one was against Yorkshire against Michael Vaughan: he came back and bowled a 14- or 15-over spell with serious pace, and he got Vaughan out. He knows that when we need a wicket he can produce it for the team.”

Not that he can do it on his own. The support of the seam-bowling pair of Callum Thorp and Mark Davies was crucial as the pressure mounted towards the end of the season. “They build pressure. That’s partly why Steve’s got all these wickets, ’cos those two have chipped away at the other end.”

So how did the biggest day in Durham’s history end? “We got back to Durham about 9.30,” says Mustard. “What state were we in? Er, not a very good one. After that, we had a table at one of the bars in Durham; it was a fantastic night.”

The trouble with Steve Harmison…

What, I wonder, is Steve Harmison’s ideal job? To hear him moaning about his lot, you’d have thought he was stitching footballs in a third-world sweat shop. After another display which, at best, almost reached lacklustre levels, he gave a rambling, incoherent and self-pitying interview on Sky where he complained that cricket was preventing him from seeing his family. Not for long, Steve. Not for long.

You do wonder quite what Harmison will do when his playing career finishes. I suspect he’ll struggle to find another job which pays him £300,000 a year for about a dozen weeks’ work.

I also wonder if he has the humility to reflect on how insensitive his words were. There at, right now, tens of thousands of young men and women serving their country in a less glamorous but somewhat more meaningful way in Afghanistan and Iraq. They don’t have benefit seasons and sponsorship deals. They don’t get to see their families.  

I don’t doubt Harmison tries his best every time he steps on to the pitch. But I do doubt that he cares enough to prepare properly. The first Test against New Zealand was hardly the first time he’s gone into a series ill-prepared. One way or another, it has to be the last.

To some extent, however, Harmison is a victim. Like a spoiled child, he has been ruined by excess. He’s had too much freedom, too much coaching and too much money. He’s lost his hunger.

Harmison’s – and Matthew Hoggard’s – lack of form in the first Test in New Zealand also reflects poorly on Peter Moores. To have two key players start a Test series short of match-fitness – again – is simply unprofessional. Moores should have ensured it didn’t happen.

Moores has been a great disappointment. While no-one is yet likely to shout ‘bring back Fletcher’, it does look as if Moores could be cricket’s version of Steve McClaren. Indeed, one wonders just how different Moores’ career might have been had he never met Mushtaq Ahmed. As different, perhaps, as Ringo Starr’s had he not met Lennon and McCartney.

Harmison is just the worst manifestation of a general malaise affecting the England team. Despite the millions spent on salaries, facilities, and a massive backroom staff, they’ve nearly all become worse cricketers. Harmison and James Anderson have both lost at least 5mph of their pace. Andrew Strauss hasn’t scored a century (at time of writing) since the dawn of time. And that’s before considering the likes of Mark Ramprakash and Graeme Hick, whose international careers were screwed up by a succession of coaches, managers and selectors. 

A long-term solution will require a culture change. Players need to forget about failure and simply give expression to their natural talents. A coach with the ability to inspire as well as offer technical advice is required. Step forward, Dermot Reeve?

But practical steps can be made now. For a start, tours need to be longer. If the players don’t like it they can become electricians. And yes, England players also need to play more county cricket. There are very few things in life at which we improve by doing less often and England’s cricketers have proved once and for all that a lack of match practice does not make perfect.