Steve Harmison

[Pelham Boy]

Watching him bowl last night was a painful experiance. No pace and no direction,he was struggling to even reach 80mph.
The guy is a centrally contracted player,so the question is,what has he been doing since he got back from Sri Lanka?
Why was he picked for this match? I'm not convinced by Stuart Broad but he must have been a better option.

[jizzemm]

painful experiance.

Oh so true. English cricket is a joke at the moment. I agree with you on Broad, but he should be playing, im sure his figures would not be much worse than Harmison.

Strauss? why is he playing in this one and not in Sri Lanka, hes played no cricket since the summer, yet he is ok for this tour but not the one before that. No wonder 20/20 and one day games are so popular, Eng test cricket and Eng cricket in paticular is becoming painful.

[TheChipPrince]

Harmison's there for any streakers that appear, to do an 'Andrew Symonds shoulder death barge', and for no other reason...

[TightEnd]

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=23894.0

[AndrewT]

Harmison is there to blast out batsmen with the new ball. Sending the ball whistling past the batsmen's ears is what he built his reputation on.

If his captain doesn't trust him enough to give him the new ball then there really isn't any point him being in the team.

[Longy]

He just seems to the weakest minded sportsmen I can remember. No self confidence, constantly moaning and is now bowling 10mph below normal and wayward.

I have had enough to be honest, chuck him on the scrapheap. Let the future of English cricket have a go, Stuart Broad.

[TightEnd]

Agree with all of you

not mentally tough enough.

We have Hoggard and Sidebottom at fast medium who nag away, can swing it and do their jobs

Harmison needs to shove it up them. If not, we might as well play Broad and give him 18 months run in the team to settle in

We have a strong top 6, wicketkeeper is no closer to being resolved, we have seamers but we still lack match winning bowlers and until Flintoff returns (if he does) the balance of the team suffers as our tail starts at 8

[Rooky9]

LOL, two threads absolutely slating a guy is a little much. Should he put himself into retirement? What do you want from him? If he's not good enough then people who make the decisions should leave him out. As far as I'm aware from past posts no one here has ever played international sport/cricket or toured for however many months away from families in largely very different cultures.

The English sports fan again very quick to turn on someone. I'm not saying he should be in the team but I'm pretty sure he's not trying to bowl badly.

[Pelham Boy]

I have always been an optimist when it comes to the England cricket team,and i have defended them from criticism when we have been struggling,and having an Aussie as one of my best mates that has been regularly.

However i can only see years of struggle ahead. IMO the current players are completely in the comfort zone where they are virtually assured of there place in the side.There are 7 batsmen in the current squad,and in the whole country there are only 3 others who are anywhere near good enough to play test cricket,Mark Ramprakash,Rob Key and Marcus Trescothick. So from 18 first class counties we have 10 batsmen good enough to play for England! Out of the alternatives Ramprakash is 38 and Trescothick will probably never be ready to play at international level again.I find this amazing.It's the same story with the bowlers.

So what is the cause of this? The majority of county sides are packed with either Overseas,Kolpak or EU players,believe it or not there is a difference in all 3! Take Sussex for example,the current County Champions,i don't know the exact figure but i would guess 70% of their overs were bowled by non-English qualified players.So how is the promising young English talent supposed to develop?

The Ashes in 2005 papered over a lot of cracks,the squad was still desperately thin back then,but luckily they all stayed fit and had stayed fit for the 2 years leading up to the ashes.Don't forget that Chris Tremlett was 12th man for the first 4 tests.

Ryan Sidebottom seems to have taken most plaudits for being the best bowler in the current side,but he is only the best of a very bad bunch.In a decent test side he would be a reasonable 3rd or 4th seamer and not the spearhead of the attack.

don't start me on the fielding,did anyone see last night when we had Harmison at point,Panesar at cover and Sidebottom at mid-off!!?? lol.

I honestly can't see us winning a series against anybody apart from Bangladesh for a very long time.

[matt674]

I can offer a ray of sunshine for you - as i currently know of two young bowlers breaking thru the ranks - Maurice Gillan, a fast bowler and Albert Selley, a fast medium bowler who are 19 and 18 years old respectively.

They've both cemented a place in the monkey's first XI and i can see nothing but international cricket for the pair within the next 3 years...........

don't forget where you read it first!!

[vegaslover]

Harmison is past international cricket, and has been for some time. You can't be spraying it all over the fecking place giving runs away at that standard, and now he doesn't have the pace.
England need to look at South Africa as an example, and give a young fast bowler,, whoever it may be, 2 years to get international experience.
Look at Ntini a few years ago and now Steyn. The were both modest players at best, but were given time to develop. Ntini has been up there for years now and steyn looks to be heading the same way.

IMHO I think we should forget about Flintoff, he's a physical wreck and will never play consistently again. Another English sports star who didn't bother to look after himself when he was younger

[AndrewT]

Look at Ntini a few years ago and now Steyn. The were both modest players at best, but were given time to develop. Ntini has been up there for years now and steyn looks to be heading the same way.

Brett Lee as well - he was a sprayer when he came into international cricket but has now learnt his trade.

I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a game from Harmison when I thought 'this guy can win us a Test'. The fact that Sidebottom is the best pace bowler we've got right now is a sorry state of affairs.

[vegaslover]

Brett Lee as well - he was a sprayer when he came into international cricket but has now learnt his trade.

Good call, forgot about him

[Pelham Boy]

Another shambolic effort from England.

[Bazzaboy]

Another shambolic effort from England.

Yeah I was hoping to see a decent run chase after the boredom of the previous 4 days (last session yesterday aside) but alas no.  The side really is in poor shape at the moment.