"Pick me or I retire"

What to make of Stephen Harmison's comments in the Mail on Sunday today? Despite protesting his love of Durham and his respect for county cricket, Harmison says that if England don't pick him then he'll probably walk away from the game. "If I felt that my chance of doing that [playing for England] was gone, the probability is that I'd retire from first-class cricket altogether," he said.

Harmison goes on to emhasise that this is not an ultimatum but you have to wonder at his attitude. Yes, playing international cricket has to be the pinnacle of any leading player's ambitions, but surely the answer is to prove you are worth it by making the case at a lower level. Harmison has been dropped by England because his best form was gone - or appeared too rarely. He does not appear to want to have to put in the hard slog and earn his place. Four wickets in 38 overs in his two games for Durham this season is a start but he is hardly bashing down the door for a recall, as Matthew Hoggard is for Yorkshire.

The experience of Ryan Sidebottom shows that it can be worth it to plug away in county cricket for a while. At 29, Harmison has a few years on his side. The odd thing is that he says that he wouldn't mind serving his time if he was 34 as he could pass things on to younger players, but he is not prepared just to be a 30-year-old county pro.

Harmison has long struck me as not enjoying his cricket. If that is the case, then perhaps he should just give up now and walk away from the game. He will never flourish for England if he doesn't relish playing. He should be demanding the ball at every opportunity; if he can't get that desire playing for Durham - against lesser batsmen, as well - then why does he think he can persuade people that he will want to bowl for England?

And if he does retire from the game, what would be the ideal next career for him?

Comments

[Peter McGuinness]

I've been a bit of an apologist for Harmy over the years.

Turns out I was wrong to stick up for him.

This is a pretty soft attitude, and I guess, indicative of his inner workings to a degree. Truth be told, he just doesn't seem to love cricket enough.

God, what most of the regular commentators to this blog would give to have had Harmy's opportunities. The silly bugger does not appreciate how lucky he has been. Oh well, good luck to him.

Without exaggerating this point, could you imagine if his attitude prevailed in Australia? If people did not play first class cricket because they weren't picked for the Test team? There'd be no Hussey, Hayden, Symonds, Clark, Gilchrist, Jaques or Lee just to name a few who had to wait or 'battle back'. Not to mention the likes of poor old Law, DiVenuto or Siddons.

Anyway, you can't force a bloke to have a passion for the game that he's made his livelihood from. What will he do in retirement Patrick? Maybe your regulars have some ideas...

[ian harness]

Get rid of him he's a load of crap anyway. My nine year old can bowl better than him.

[Anton]

I agree. If you look at his body language its almsot as if he does not want to be there. Contrast that with his fellow fast bolwer Matthew Hoggard, who will run in whole day if necessary.

To me, he just just wants to do enough to earn a hefty central contract.

Regarding the IPL, his only chance is that he is a well-known international cricketer and therefore has some marketing power. But I wouldn't bother because he is likely to be very expensive with the ball.

[Bill]

The most incredible thing here is that a cricketer who has basically had three good seasons at the top in his entire career has earned enough money to consider retiring at 29.

What a weak man!

[james McCann]

With the exception of the swearing, I completely agree with Mr Lucas. Harmison is a complete fabrication of a cricketer. He is devastating when either a) he can be bothered to be or b) when the track suits him. International, or indeed any standard of cricket cannot be played this way. He a pathetic cry baby and should retire from a game as feebily as he has contributed to it.

[Pablo]

Harmison really got it all wrong. If you are axed because of being out of shape, whether you think it is fair or not, you have a clear response: you shut up, go to the county competition, and do your best to put anyone even loosely connected to the decission to shame. Actually, one of his problems is that on this he is being compared to Flintoff and Hoggard, which are in somewhat similar circumstances. While these two did more or less what was expected from them, Harmison has put up a show of complains, arguments with the press, and victimism that have completely eclipsed his game and any effort he may have done to improve it.
What bothers me the most is how a guy that has the luck of playing Cricket professionally can find a way of not liking it before he is even 30 years old, wasting a unique set of technical and physical skills. It is one of those situations in which 99.99% of the people go through the same thought: "I'd love to have those problems!"

[Terry W]

I think what he really means Patrick is 'IPL here I come'. Not sure who would have him though and at what price. What about Tanvir yesterday? Amazing stuff.

[Bill Lucas]

Let him f*** off back to Durham to watch his Byker Grove tapes on betamax. You can hear the groaning and moaning from the England team with ever pathetic whine and grumble Harmison comes up with. He's a one-series loser with a ridiculously high opinion of himself, as mentally fragile as a prisoner of war, except his only jail is his own fear of failure. Good riddance.