Cook’s recipe for Harmison

Apr 15 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

THE pressure is on Steve Harmison to revive an England career many have already written the obituaries on, but Durham coach Geoff Cook is confident the Ashington Express will do just that – because he has seen it once already.

Harmison’s first bowling spell since representing his country in New Zealand this winter is expected to come in the less glamorous surroundings of a three-day friendly against Durham University, starting at the Riverside tomorrow . The 29-year-old will take to the field on a mission to resurrect his international career.

Harmison – and Matthew Hoggard – were dropped for the second Test against New Zealand amid questions about his fitness, application and even ability.

The performance of their replacements, Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, in the two subsequent wins led some to predict it was Harmison’s final international appearance. Ex-England opener Cook says he has seen it all before.

“We’ve had a chat and Stephen is as determined as ever to get things together,” he said. “Last year he didn’t play in the World Cup and was under a bit of pressure to get himself re-established. It’s an absolute replay of 12 months ago, I just hope he’s got the same drive he showed then.”

Harmison took 36 Championship wickets in 2007 at an average of 14.55 and without saying so explicitly, Cook hinted he performed better away from the England environment.

“He was bowling in excess of 50 overs a game for us at the start of last season, which was a workload he only had when he was playing county cricket,” Cook said. “He’s a strong lad and thrives on it. Stephen’s is a very simple style, his approach to cricket is very simple and simple encouragement is what he benefits from.

“Dale Benkenstein, our skipper, handled him for the initial stages last year and was absolutely brilliant. He just said, ‘Stephen, you know the length you’ve got to bowl, come in and bowl as fast as you possibly can and hit that length as often as you possibly can’. It took the pressure off straight away.”

Some believe Harmison and clubmate Liam Plunkett have been “over-coached” with England, and Cook suspects there may be something to it.

“You can try to please too many masters and be untrue to yourself and I think that’s what’s happened with Liam,” he said. “Players taking responsibility for themselves is okay in theory but when there’s a lot of England management around you, it’s difficult.”