As the ECB's marketing team ensures that The Ashes will scatter all over the cricket landscape in the next few weeks a familiar pre-Ashesquestion also makes in customary (at least from the evidence of the last 4 campaigns) rounds:
Will Steven Harmison be back in the English side?
Our friends @ The Corridor certainly
agree:
It may be a trend, Steve Harmison starting the season well for Durham
to yet again persuade England’s selectors that he should be picked.
It’s a depressing one though, isn’t it, when his domestic performances
are laced with evidence of extreme talent which has only emerged
occasionally in internationals, interspersed with nervous and
occasionally appauling efforts for England.
Steven's recent, aggression-filled performances for Durham have not gone unnoticed by, well, duckingbeamers:, even as Harmy himself seems to have been affected more by the outcome of such aggression that the batsmen who bore the brunt of it ... at least, physically:
“It’s the worst thing in the world when you hit somebody,” Steve said. “I
really don’t like it at all. I s*** myself when I hit Tony Frost. I was
upset by that. And the same when I hurt Ian Bell.”
Statements that were
interpreted by Patrick Kidd @ Line and Length to be indicative of his "softness":
I want my fast bowlers to enjoy hitting batsmen if that is what the
occasion demands. Remember the aggression at the start of the 2005
Ashes, when Langer was hit on the forearm and Ponting's cheek was cut
by a bouncer into his helmet? It set the tone and showed that we would
not be bullied.
On the other hand, the guys @ The Ashes Cricket Live think the only thing relevant from the recent domestic tournament is that the English bowlers seem to be hitting more than just batsmen ... they might be hitting prime form:
England
bowlers participating in county championship action this week have been
in top form. With all bowlers all hoping for a place in the starting
line up in The Ashes, England vs Australia, come the first test match
in Cardiff on 8th July.
So while many, like the few @ Cricket 24x7, wonder how Australia's premature ousting from the World T20 might affect their morale going into the Ashes ... or won't ...
It's funny how Shane Warne's brain works. I daresay quite a few other
Aussie cricketers (current and former), cricket administrators and
cricket commentators/writers would have also thought along similar
lines after Australia were bundled out of the T20 World Cup.
the English selectors have clearly seem to have indicated, they don't want any mental cases coming into this year's Ashes by leaving our Michael Vaughan and Steve Harmison out of the squad ... a couple who know what it takes to beat the Aussies but also know, and only too well, what it feels like to be beaten really badly by them.