Steve Harmison fights on. Suggestions of imminent international retirement should he not be selected for South Africa, apparently emanating from the bowler himself, have proved groundless. He will play on in the hope of another resurgence in a tidal career. He is, after all, not yet 31.
It could prove a forlorn hope, however. In reality he has been clinging to his international life tenaciously but with no real conviction since the day in New Zealand in 2008 when he and Matthew Hoggard, central planks of the best fast-bowling attack England may ever have fielded, were dropped for the Wellington Test. If, throughout his career, he has been one of the most mercurial players ever to pull on the crown and three lions, then he has also been one of the most seductive.
Too often the promise outweighed the performance. Yet when he got it right, when there was bounce and he found that surge to the crease, got his wrist behind the ball and bowled the natural length that comes with release at the moment of maximum acceleration of his arms, there has been no bowler of the modern era that batsmen have least liked facing. He stands as England's 10th most successful wicket-taker, with 222 from 62 matches plus another four from that ridiculous Rest of the World beano in Australia.
He might, with justification, have been chosen for the tour of South Africa. Indeed, in the opinion of many, including this quarter, he should have been. If they arrive at the Wanderers and Centurion and find the pitch carrying through chest high to the wicketkeeper, they may regret it. Geoff Miller, the national selector, says that he has not done sufficient to justify his inclusion now, although that seems an odd thing to say given that he playedin England's last Test, the win over Australia at The Oval, and played a commendable part.
Miller will be able to point to the statistics and make a strong case for his omission. Harmison bullies the small fry, he might say, but when it comes to Australia, for example, he takes his wickets at 42 apiece and South Africa closer to 55. Abroad it is even less convincing: 50 apiece in Australia; 73 in South Africa. On paper they are not strong credentials.
But then you cast your mind back to the good times: not just Sabina Park or Old Trafford, where he destroyed the opposition – all too rare, granted – but Edgbaston in 2004 in the Champions Trophy when he drove the bully boy Matt Hayden back into his crease or Lord's the following year when he hit Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting in a ferocious opening salvo. There were some efforts in adversity, too. At St John's he bowled heroically to Brian Lara during his record 400 not out and the same to Mohammad Yousuf at Lahore during a double century.
In no way do the figures reflect the bowling. He could, when asked, work extremely hard on the pitch. It was easy to wonder how much more appreciative of the effort critics might have been had he been as brisk and businesslike as, say, Dennis Lillee, rather than meandering back to his mark, bowl as if wearing a pinstripe suit rather than jeans and a T-shirt, as it was once put here. In South Africa Graeme Smith and his batsmen will rest a little easier at the prospect of facing Liam Plunkett rather than Harmison.
It irks Harmison and, to an extent, those that know him when the suggestion comes that he does not commit nor try. These people do not understand the nature of fast bowling where for some the pace, and confidence, comes hand in glove with rhythm. If Harmison has not helped his cause by his lack of preparation for tours, then there have been occasions when he has been prevented from playing for Durham when he would have liked. The more he bowls, the better he gets.
And is there anything so very wrong with missing your home and family when on tour? In Perth, in 2002, he suffered the embarrassment of losing his run-up. To bowl as he did subsequently, indeed to bowl at all, took real courage. If Harmison has not lived up to our expectations, then that should not detract from what he has achieved. He has been the best we have had at the time. England have moved on now, it seems, but they will miss him.
