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Steve Harmison likely to miss rest of season


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England fast bowler Steve Harmison is almost certainly out of Thursday's first Test against India at Lord's and may well be out for the rest of the summer. More... Steve Harmison likely to miss rest of season By Steve James, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 1:40am BST 15/07/2007 England fast bowler Steve Harmison is almost certainly out of Thursday's first Test against India at Lord's and may well be out for the rest of the summer. Harmison suffered a recurrence of a hernia problem on Friday after bowling just five overs during Durham's County Championship match against Sussex at Horsham. It was confirmed yesterday that he would play no further part in the match. England will name a 13-man squad this morning which will include Harmison's name, but chairman of selectors David Graveney admitted yesterday that it is "extremely doubtful" that Harmison will be fit in time. He will be re-assessed by England's medical staff tomorrow, but the likelihood is that an operation initially scheduled for the autumn will be brought forward, ruling Harmison out for six weeks. The injury first surfaced at Harmison's home ground at Chester-le-Street during the final Test of the 3-0 series win over the West Indies. It was hoped at the time that he might be able to battle through to the end of the summer before surgery, but this latest setback has obviously altered that. Durham director of cricket Geoff Cook certainly seemed resigned to that course of action yesterday when admitting: "It's too early to say whether he will play at Lord's, but he may have to have the operation earlier than scheduled." Harmison has missed only four of England's previous 46 Tests, all four in a row after injuring his shin prior to the final Test against India in Mumbai last year. Lancashire's James Anderson replaced him for that Test and is now certain to be included in this morning's squad. Anderson was 12th man at Durham against West Indies and the obvious solution would be for him to slot into a four-man bowling attack also comprising Matthew Hoggard, Ryan Sidebottom and Monty Panesar. However, the conundrum for the selectors is that the pace attack would be, notwithstanding Sidebottom's left-handedness, far too samey, all being swing bowlers by nature. If the ball does not swing at Lord's then such limitations could be horribly exposed. But summoning a like-for-like replacement for Harmison's pace and bounce is not easy. The more mischievous might suggest Somerset's 38-year-old Andrew Caddick, who, with 49 victims, is third in the list of wicket takers in first-class cricket this season, trailing only Harmison and Danish Kaneria. But that is just too fanciful. There was a shoot-out between the more realistic candidates at Chelmsford yesterday where the England Lions (formerly England A) were hosting the touring Indians. There Leicestershire's Stuart Broad, Durham's Graham Onions and Hampshire's Chris Tremlett all looked decent without stating an unanswerable case. Onions looked to have stolen an early lead with two wickets in his first over but thereafter took some heavy punishment from Sachin Tendulkar. The smart money last night was on Broad, who appeared in the recent one-day series against the West Indies.

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BTW the bowling attack of England will constitute Hoggard, Sidebottom, Anderson and Panesar. Now that bowling attack doesn't inspire much but you never know with the Indian batters. India could not have asked for a lamer test bowling attack than that for the first test and at Lords' I guess the luck is favoring India big time but unless there is good application it wouldn't matter if its Jones or Freddi or Onions bowling, our folks will have tough time.

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BTW the bowling attack of England will constitute Hoggard' date= Sidebottom, Anderson and Panesar. Now that bowling attack doesn't inspire much but you never know with the Indian batters. India could not have asked for a lamer test bowling attack than that for the first test and at Lords' I guess the luck is favoring India big time but unless there is good application it wouldn't matter if its Jones or Freddi or Onions bowling, our folks will have tough time.
Hoggard, Harmison, Jones and Flintoff to this!:confused_smile:
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They will play Broad as a replacement. That makes a little nervous. Remember the last time an English fast bowler made his debut at Lords against India ? A nobody by the name of Simon Jones. He had the Indian batsmen hopping all over the place with the ball, and then he slogged some runs when England batted. Broad has already wrecked India in the warm-up and we all know he can wield the bat with confidence...

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I agree. We should not under-estimate the english bowling line-up. Hoggard will do what he always does , peg away at the batsman with nagging accuracy. I rate James Anderson quite a bit. He is brisk and swings the ball a lot. And panesar has shown he can win matches single-handedly in english conditions. If Broad does play , he will be full of confidence too.

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Absolutely. If you need to get our folks out check in a new seamer. The quality of the bowler will not matter either. Reputed bowlers don't seem to do well but any bowler that hasn't played much international cricket will be good against India. Anyone remember Simon Doull, Lee, Asif, Saneeva De Silva, Olanga et al... they all proved very successful at the start of their career against Indians. Similarly reputed batsmen don't really do very well against India. Did someone say Lara or Ponting? It's the unknown and the lower batting order that does well against India consistently.

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Absolutely. If you need to get our folks out check in a new seamer. The quality of the bowler will not matter either. Reputed bowlers don't seem to do well but any bowler that hasn't played much international cricket will be good against India. Anyone remember Simon Doull' date= Lee, Asif, Saneeva De Silva, Olanga et al... they all proved very successful at the start of their career against Indians. Similarly reputed batsmen don't really do very well against India. Did someone say Lara or Ponting? It's the unknown and the lower batting order that does well against India consistently.
add umar Gul and Shoaib to the list.
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Some of the people only know how to make mockery out of the others but never check the profile of the players.
Nobody knows his record better than I do. Try this: His last series in Sth. Africa: 5 Tests. 9 wickets @ 73.22 From an article I wrote in AC.net after the last Ashes series called: Hapless Harmy - Pitiful parody of a Pommy paceman This is a problem England has had for ages but it seems nobody wants to admit it. His last 11 Tests for England overseas have produced 27 wickets at an average of 52 and a strike rate of 96, with no 4 or 5fas. And still, Andrew Flintoff hands him the new ball in Brisbane. Rolling Eyes After possibly the most embarrassing opening ball in Ashes history, he finished with 1/177 @ over 4 r.p.o. And STILL they say, "He just needs ...." or "He only has to ...." etc. Almost any other team in the world would drop him (for Adelaide) but England won't. On a track where he'll be butchered, square of the wicket, unless he does a 'Jeckle and Hyde', FF will again be stuck with the unwelcome fact his biggest problem is his good mate, Steve Harmison. How did he go in Adelaide ? 29 overs. 0/111. For the series ? 10 wickets @ 61.4 runs per wicket. That's bad enough but if you take out the 5/164 he took in the WACA Test, that leaves 5/450 in the other 4. That's 90 runs per wicket. Want more ? http://www.aussiecricket.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5955&highlight=hapless+harmy
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Though he is in horrible form of late but don´t forget his service to English cricket over the last 3-4 years. He was the only English who led them to a series victory in West Indies.
That SA series started in 2004. A series victory in the Windies ?? You write that as if it's a memorable achievement. I didn't say he was good for nothing at all. He can still take County wickets (so can the 39 y.o. Andy Caddick) but to name him as being on top of your list of favourite English bowlers certainly begged a comment. :regular_smile: Caddick was a servicable enough bowler for England and a player I admire but not amongst the greats, having a Test bowling average of 30.
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