da roleta： Steve Harmison presented England’s selectors with a tantalising pre-Ashes dilemma, and in the process earned Durhamthe chance to move to the top of the Division One table, as he belied a slow pitch to produce his second five-wicket haul in as many inning
George Dobell at Edgbaston18-Jun-2009Warwickshire 264 for 9 (Harmison 5 for 39) trail Durham 433 (Blackwell 158) by 169 runs
ScorecardSteve Harmison: fighting for his England place•Getty Images
Steve Harmison presented England’s selectors with a tantalising pre-Ashes dilemma, and in the process earned Durhamthe chance to move to the top of the Division One table, as he belied a slow pitch to produce his second five-wicket haul in as many innings to rip the heart out of Warwickshire’s batting.In two hostile spells after tea, Harmison claimed 5 for 18 in nineovers, leaving Warwickshire’s last pair requiring 20 more on the finalmorning if they are to avoid the follow-on. Had Boyd Rankin not beendropped off the penultimate delivery of the day, edging the deservingGraham Onions to Gareth Breese at first slip, it would have beenenforced already. As it is, Warwickshire’s unbeaten record thatstretches back to 2007 is in severe jeopardy.It was the manner of Harmison’s wickets that was most impressive. Hetore through Warwickshire’s much-vaunted middle-order in an outstandingdemonstration of sustained aggression, making international batsmenappear timid and uncertain.Nor was the damage just on the scorecard. Harmison also landed threecrashing blows on the head, hand and arm of Tony Frost, Ian Bell andChris Woakes respectively. It was, one lot of five wides apart, atop-quality spell of fast bowling that will not so much nudge theEngland selectors as grab them by the shoulders and shake them.”It’s the worst thing in the world when you hit somebody,” Harmisonsaid afterwards. “I really don’t like it at all. I **** myself when Ihit Tony Frost. I was upset by that. And the same when I hurt IanBell.”But on flat, slow wickets, you have to do something different and myvariation is being aggressive and bowling bouncers.”There’s not been a result here in 20 championship games and you cansee why. There’s not much pace in the pitch, but it does have goodcarry. You have to have something different if you’re going to winhere. If we can make them follow-on we can put some nervous twitchesinside the Warwickshire dressing room.”I showed my experience today. In the last two weeks I haven’t had toexert myself because of the wickets we’ve been playing on. I’ve hadrewards in all three games, but this one is the most pleasing becauseit is a flat wicket. I had to exert myself a lot more today.”And I came up against good players. Belly is a really good player.For him not to be in the Test team is something I struggle tocomprehend. And the way Frost carried on after being hit on the headwas credit to him.”Bell and Frost had added 129 for Warwickshire’s second wicket. Whileboth endured some torrid moments – Frost was struck a fearful blow onthe side of the head as he ducked into a bouncer – they demonstratedcourage and technique to see off the new ball. Bell, in particular,looked serene.But doesn’t he always? The criticism he has to answer is that hedoesn’t go on to produce match-defining scores and both he and Frostwill reflect that, with the hard work seemingly done, they allowedDurham back into the game.First Frost edged a decent ball on off stump from the medium-pace ofDale Benkenstein, before Bell was drawn into prodding at one that hecould easily have left. His aghast response to his dismissal spokevolumes.But it was the return of Harmison than prompted Warwickshire to losesix for 62. First he bowled Jonathan Trott, who played slightly acrossa fuller delivery that took his off stump, before unleashing twoferocious short balls for Troughton and Ambrose. The former gothimself in a horrible mess and gloved a catch to slip, while Ambrosewas undone by extra bounce and caught off the handle of the batfending a brute of a ball from his face.Woakes resisted for a while, driving Onions for three boundaries in anover. But the ball after sustaining a thumping blow to his rightforearm – he was, absurdly, not wearing an arm guard – he proddedtentatively to slip. Jeetan Patel, backing away so far he was indanger of treading on the square leg umpire’s toes, sliced to slipmoments later.Forcing victory may not prove easy for Durham, however. Callum Thorpehas a side strain and my be unable to bowl, while Breese wasineffective.Earlier Ian Westwood played across a full ball and Neil Carter wasbeaten by one that turned sharply and struck on the back leg by theimpressive Ian Blackwell. Spin could yet play the decisive role inthis game.Harmison dismissed the significance of producing his season’s bestperformance in front of England selector Ashley Giles. “The selectors are there all the time,” he said tactfully. “That doesn’t bother me one bit. My agenda is to try and take 20 wickets for Durham. Everything else is out of my hands.”Ashley knows what I can do. We’ve played a lot of cricket together.He’s stood at gully and watched me bowl like that a few times. I liketo think that, wearing his England hat, he was happy. But wearing hisWarwickshire hat he’s thinking ‘let’s get past this follow-on.’Harmison also had warm words for his team-mate from the 2005 Ashes,Simon Jones, following his latest – and surely last – injury setback”It’s horrendous,” Harmison said. “Just so, so sad. I’m sodisappointed for Simon.”I remember carrying him off on a stretcher in Brisbane when he firstdid it [the knee injury] and it’s heartbreaking to hear he keepsgetting injured again. But he’s a fighter and he’ll get himself back on the field.Everyone’s thoughts are with him.”