Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Stephen James Harmison
Born October 23, 1978, Ashington, Northumberland
Current age 29 years 202 days
Major teams England, Durham, ICC World XI, Lions
Nickname Harmy
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Height 6 ft 4 in
Education Ashington High School
Relations Brother - J Harmison, Brother - BW Harmison

Batting and fielding averages
	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	57	77	19	642	42	11.06	1105	58.09	0	0	82	9	7
ODIs	46	22	13	67	13*	7.44	116	57.75	0	0	2	0	8
T20Is	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
First-class	157	215	58	1517	42	9.66			0	0			24
List A	114	55	27	201	17	7.17			0	0			19
Twenty20	6	2	0	5	5	2.50	7	71.42	0	0	1	0	2

Bowling averages
	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	57	105	12405	6655	212	7/12	11/76	31.39	3.21	58.5	11	8	1
ODIs	46	46	2443	2057	67	5/33	5/33	30.70	5.05	36.4	2	1	0
T20Is	2	2	39	42	1	1/13	1/13	42.00	6.46	39.0	0	0	0
First-class	157		30366	15876	547	7/12		29.02	3.13	55.5		20	1
List A	114		5614	4580	147	5/33	5/33	31.15	4.89	38.1	4	1	0
Twenty20	6	6	117	150	5	2/27	2/27	30.00	7.69	23.4	0	0	0

Career statistics
Test debut	England v India at Nottingham, Aug 8-12, 2002 scorecard
Last Test	New Zealand v England at Hamilton, Mar 5-9, 2008 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	England v Sri Lanka at Brisbane, Dec 17, 2002 scorecard
Last ODI	Australia v England at Jaipur, Oct 21, 2006 scorecard
ODI statistics
T20I debut	England v Australia at Southampton, Jun 13, 2005 scorecard
Last T20I	England v Sri Lanka at Southampton, Jun 15, 2006 scorecard
T20I statistics
First-class debut	1996
Last First-class	Lancashire v Durham at Manchester, May 7-9, 2008 scorecard
List A debut	1998
Last List A	Scotland v Durham at Edinburgh, May 11, 2008 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Durham v Yorkshire at Chester-le-Street, Jul 15, 2004 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Yorkshire v Durham at Leeds, Jun 30, 2007 scorecard

Profile

With his lofty, loose-limbed gait and his painful capacity for jamming fingers against bat-handles, Steve Harmison had for some time been drawing tongue-in-cheek comparisons to the great Curtly Ambrose, when suddenly, in Jamaica in March 2004, he loped in to produce a spell of irresistible fast bowling that Ambrose himself could hardly have bettered. West Indies were blown away for 47, and Harmison's figures of 7 for 12 were the best in Tests at Sabina Park. It was a stunning riposte from a man who, only months earlier, had flown home injured from England's tour of Bangladesh with whispers about his diffidence chasing him all the way. However, as much as Jamaica 2004 set the benchmark, Brisbane 2006 proved a low point as his opening delivery of the Ashes series went straight to Andrew Flintoff at second slip and his desire was once again questioned.

Harmison, who was born in Ashington - the Northumberland village where the footballing Charlton brothers first saw the light of day - was barely 20 when he went with England A to South Africa in 1998-99, but after that he was held back by a series of niggling injuries - including somehow dislocating his shoulder when he caught his hand in his trouser pocket while bowling - and a tendency to fall homesick when confined to barracks on overseas tours. He eventually broke into the Test team in mid-2002, after an injury to another tearaway, Simon Jones, but for a long time he was no better than promising, with a tendency to mix magical spells with moments when the radar would go badly awry. But, in the Caribbean, the spiritual home of the fast bowler, he seemed to have finally come of age.

This was borne out in the 2004 Test series against West Indies and New Zealand, where he plundered wickets aplenty as England completed a 7-0 clean sweep of victories. But in South Africa the following winter, the doubts crept back in and he after ending a miserable Test series with a niggling calf strain, he admitted to the press that he had been hoping to fail his fitness test in order to be allowed home early. Against Bangladesh the following summer, he took a cathartic five-wicket haul in front of his home crowd in Durham, before tearing into Australia's top-order with five wickets on the first morning of the Ashes series at Lord's.

He couldn't secure victory on that occasion, but popped up with the most vital strike of his life one Test later, to seal a thrilling two-run win at Edgbaston and set England on their way to an historic Ashes triumph. Persistent shin problems hampered his form for the rest of the year, but against Pakistan at Old Trafford in July 2006, he was back to his rampant best, taking 11 wickets in a thumping innings win. That didn't last as his one-day nightmares continued at the Champions Trophy and he entered the first Test at Brisbane woefully short of match fitness. The result was that wide which, as much as his striking of Justin Langer at Lord's in 2005, set the tone for the series. Harmison was anonymous for the first two Tests before finally showing some form in the final three matches - but by then it was too late. After the Perth defeat handed the Ashes back to Australia, Harmison announced his retirement from ODIs, a decision he'd made after the Champions Trophy. It continued to leave more questions than answers. A reputation, and a career, hung in the balance and although he began 2007 in fine style for Durham, his winter nightmares continued to hamper him in the opening Tests against West Indies. A back injury ended his summer prematurely and, in October, was asked by the England management to prove his fitness and form by playing in South African domestic cricket. He came through the subsequent tour of Sri Lanka with credit, despite missing the first Test with back problems, but he was dropped one Test later in New Zealand, after an abject display in a humiliating England defeat at Hamilton.
Cricinfo staff March 2008