Former fast bowler Steve Harmison credited legends Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson for their recent performances to help prop up an England seam attack blighted by injury. The legendary duo were shockingly dropped from the side for the test tour to West Indies in March, but bounced back in a big way against New Zealand and India this summer. The 43-year-old hailed the veterans' performances, especially in the absence of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Olly Stone.
“I would love to play in the current system. England could be a seriously talented side for a long time to come if you add one of the injured fast bowlers, Archer, Wood and Stone,” the commentator told Online Cricket Betting. “That's nothing against Broad and Anderson, who haven't peaked this summer after England trying their hardest to get rid of them for two or three years. If they hadn't been here this summer then England would be in a really dire situation from a bowling point of view. England needed their two greatest to stand up because everybody else was on the treatment table.”
England are currently competing in a home Test series against South Africa and are keen to carry on the momentum built with their latest victories in the red-ball format. The players have had to juggle their schedules due to a packed fixture list, with Ben Stokes opting to retire from ODIs to prioritise captaining the test side and lessen his load. Jonny Bairstow also chose to don the whites over the glitz and glamour of The Hundred, a topic which Harmison discussed.
“I think the players are pulling out of The Hundred because they want to play in Test matches, which is why Bairstow and Stokes have pulled out," he added. "There's no secret that the players and the ECB could get on better. The ECB could say to the players that they pay a lot of money for them to play in England, they sort a calendar and then the players go to the IPL - so the ECB may say they can't whinge if they fit in different games - there has to be give and take from both sides.
“Trent Boult is the first player along with Ben Stokes to put their allegiance to a franchise and not a cricket board in white ball - Stokes has retired from one-day cricket as a protest to the amount of cricket that has been fit into the calendar. You're an individual and you only have so much time to make money.
"I don't have a problem with players if you leave and earn lots of money for the benefit of yourself because you want to spend more time with your family and it's the right thing to do, but don't come back. “If you want to go down the franchise route, off you go and somebody else will play international cricket. The Boards need to make that clear."
Despite the stranglehold the limited-over formats continue to have on the game, Harmison still holds the longest format in very high regard and thinks its prestige is incomparable. "You never get introduced by how many T20, one-day or Hundred caps you received, it's all about Test matches, how many times you won the Ashes," he continued.
“Eoin Morgan will be remembered as the World Cup-winning captain but he'd be remembered as the guy that played a few Test matches without it. Nobody remembers a special one-day player, they remember you for the Ashes and I don't think that will ever change so we have to protect first-class cricket.”
