Durham paceman back on top form
Jun 15 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
STEPHEN Harmison can not do much more to prove he should be back in the England team than bowl like he did against Lancashire, according to his Durham captain Will Smith.
Harmison was in scintillating form as Durham smashed Lancashire by 138 runs, winning inside three days for the second Championship game in a row.
Although the 30-year-old has been outshone by his younger Durham team-mate Graham Onions so far this season – the Gateshead fast bowler took his tally to 42 wickets in two Test matches and four Championship games against Lancashire – he was frighteningly quick in Durham’s latest rout.
And, as a batsman, Smith insisted it was painful to watch Harmison give Lancashire’s in-form South African Francois de Plessis a vicious working-over in both innings.
He said: “We know all about Graham Onions this season. He has been superb for England and Durham, but Steve is looking like the Test-match bowler we know he is as well.
“He is bowling fast, accurately and with some hostility as well. He is always capable of getting extra bounce out of a pitch. It’s great to see him like that.
“It was painful to watch him working Francois du Plessis over on Saturday afternoon. That’s the quality of Stephen. He recognised Francois is Lancashire’s best player at the moment and he took the opportunity to remind them that he was going to target their best player.
“He gave him a real working over. I think the other batters probably knew they were in for a rough ride if he could do that to their best player.
“It was tough facing Andrew Flintoff and Sajid Mahmood, but it was nice to know we could give it back to them when we bowled.” Durham have moved up to second in the Liverpool Victoria County Championship with back-to-back victories over Hampshire and Lancashire, and Smith took the opportunity to remind the rest of the country his side is the team to beat again this year.
Indeed, worryingly for the rest of County cricket, Smith believes Durham are a stronger side than they were when they won their first Championship last year. He explained: “Lancashire are a quality side and Andrew Flintoff increases the potency. Lancashire are a side who, with all their history and tradition, would come to the Riverside and try to bully Durham. But I think they realise they can’t do that any more.
“It’s early days. We’ve only had five games out of 16 and it’s a marathon not a sprint, but we’re in good shape. We were never really on top until the last day last season.
“The four-day stuff, a lot of the time, takes care of itself. Everybody is aware of what they are doing. The batsmen have to bat for as long as possible and the bowlers have to be patient and make sure they put pressure on.
“In one-day cricket, it’s evolving so quickly, we were off the pace at the start of the year.
“Four-day cricket is old-fashioned values which don’t change with time and we have players perfectly equipped to play it.
“We’re all a year older, a year wiser and a year more experienced so that helps us as a team. I think we are probably a better team than we were last year.
“Look at the way Graham Onions is bowling and then we have Liam Plunkett, Mark Davies and these guys on the sidelines when opportunities arise. I think we have improved because the individuals have improved.”
Smith also defended the pitch at the Riverside after 18 wickets fell on Friday and 14 in just two sessions on Saturday.
He said: “I didn’t think it was that bad a wicket. The odd ball did misbehave a little bit, but when you have world-class attacks like we’ve got and Lancashire had with Andrew Flintoff in the side, the ball is always going to misbehave pretty regularly.
“Because so many wickets fell I’m sure they will take a look at the pitch, but if they have any common sense they will leave it alone.
“There was nothing untoward, just some top quality bowling on a wicket that had a little bit there for them.”
