2.00pm
Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard have had some trenchant comments to make in the last week about their omission from England's side for the last two Tests of the New Zealand Test series. Harmison spoke as he bowls at The Riverside last Monday. He banged it in short and with venom, condemning the English culture of kicking people when they were down and comparing himself to two other north-east sportsmen battling against hard times: Michael Owen and Jonny Wilkinson. Hoggard, as ever, spoke in more unconventional terms. He was invited to pay lip service to the fact that competition for places must be good for England and so offer some form of consolation. ''Do you mean that I think it's good that I've been dropped?'' he asked. ''No, I don't, I think it's shite.'' The Friends Provident Trophy opener between Durham and Yorkshire at The Riverside today promised to pit Harmison and Hoggard against each other and therefore offer an intriguing early chance to monitor their form. But Hoggard was absent and will prove his worth in the championship. He looks fit - he has clearly lost weight - and his offball humour has an edge to it. The impression is that he will not give up his England place easily. Harmison, though, has given this game the big build-up, all but suggesting that the world will be agog; Sky TV, who are covering this, must have sold a few dishes over the winter. And Nasser Hussain, the former England captain commentating on Sky, certainly lay down a challenge to Harmison. There was an element of goading Harmison into a response when he said that ''Durham should go well this season because they should have Harmison for most of it.'' But Hoggard will fear that, however well he bowls early season, Harmison has a better chance of recovering his England place. Hoggard is a type; Harmison is an original. Nobody in England can bowl with the pace and ferocity of Harmison at his best and nobody can let go of the hope that he might rediscover his mastery. Hoggard, unless at his peak, is easier to replace. There was plenty of assistance for Yorkshire's seamers as Durham struggled to 88-4 in the opening 20 overs on a responsive Riverside pitch. Michael De Venuto left one and was bowled by Tim Bresnan; Kyle Coetzer was bowled as Ajmal Shahzad nipped one back sharply in his first over. Phil Mustard continued his England habit of getting set then getting out, on this occasion mis-pulling Deon Kruis. The pull rarely seems a safe option in Mustard's hands and considering his limitations this ball was too far up. It was a typical April pitch in the north of England. Durham had batted with a lot of purpose, but had still lost one more wicket than they would have been happy with. As for Harmison, watching from the dressing room, he would have felt happier had he been a dibbly-dobbly seamer.
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4.00 pm
Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard might have made Duncan Fletcher's name as a coach when they were two of England's Ashes-winning quartet of fast bowlers but Fletcher does not do nostalgia. Fletcher, who missed a chance to coach in the Indian Premier League because his suitors were unwilling to meet his financial demands, has told the Sunday Telegraph that both players will struggle to win back their England place. His comments represent a typically brusque assessment from a man who shows no signs of softening after roughly a year out of the game. Of Harmison's disappointing winter, he observes: ''It's typical Harmy, I'm afraid. We've seen it over and over again. He could and should be the No. 1 one bowler in the world but he can't seem to be able to put it all together." Hoggard also does not stir Fletcher's sentimental side. ''He always struggled when he was the main strike bowler,'' Fletcher said. ''His speed has been dropping for a while. I heard someone saying he'd lost his nip but I thought it had gone a while ago.'' Harmison had an excellent opportunity at The Riverside to assist Durham's push for victory in their opening Friends Provident tie at The Riverside. Durham's 220 looked a challenging total for a youthful Yorkshire side that last summer were inconsistent in one-day cricket. The mainstay of Durham's total was Neil McKenzie, who has just arrived in the north-east fresh from a successful South Africa tour of India, but who still made 77 from 123 balls, his most adventurous shot the pre-meditated slog-sweep. McKenzie has just had a wonderful tour of Bangladesh and India has revived his South Africa career at 32, and could prove one of the shrewdest signings of the summer
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7.30pm
At the start of the last Ashes series, Steve Harmison's loosener famously ended up in Andrew Flintoff's hands at first slip. Those who believe in omens immediately pronounced the Ashes lost - and it was hard to argue when England lost 5-0. Today at The Roverside, Harmison took a wicket with the first ball of each of his spells. That's the start of the spells sorted then. All that is left is the middle and the end bits. Then we can all await a comeback at Lord's in the first Test against New Zealand on May 15. The ball that dismissed Gerard Brophy was stereotypically Harmison, difficult for its steep bounce targeting the rib cage but, it has to be said, not unplayable. Brophy did not play it particularly well, which was much in keeping with Yorkshire, who lost half their side for 57 . Harmison later repeated the first-ball trick, returning in fading light to take a wicket at the start of his second spell. This was more inconsequential, except for the fact that Richard Pyrah hauled it to the younger Harmison, Ben, at deep midwicket. He finiushed with two for 40 on a nibbly early-season Northern seamer: steady but unspectacular. With Yorkshire needing 80 from nine overs with two wickets left, Harmison must have felt the job was done, but the ninth-wicket pair of Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad hit about them so pluckily - taking 22 off one over from Neil Killeen - that Yorkshire got within five runs. It all ended when Bresnan drove the fifth ball of the final over, from Graham Onions, to extra cover. With six needed from two balls, it was a courageous time for Onions to produce a slower ball. His bravery was rewarded with a five-run win for Durham, whose Friends Provident win in last year's Lord's final was their first senior trophy. Durham's 220 looked safe, but thanks to Bresnan's robust half-century, for Harmison and co it was nearly embarrassing.
