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Should England recall Steve Harmison?

 

Neil Gardner

After England's thrilling rearguard action to save the first Test in Cardiff, do Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower need to bring in added firepower when the team for the second Test at Lord's is announced on Monday?

With the much-vaunted twin-spin experiment having largely failed there will be repeated calls for the return of Steve Harmison whose pace, bounce and aggression were sadly lacking at the SWALEC Stadium.

The Durham paceman showed plenty of his old fire to dismiss Phillip Hughes and Ricky Ponting whilst playing for England Lions against Australia and has continued that good form in the County Championship, taking 5-60 in a fearsome spell against Yorkshire this week.

But should England gamble on bringing back the player who played such a key role in the Ashes victory in 2005 but came unstuck so spectacularly in the return series Down Under?

With four Australians scoring centuries in Wales, something special will be needed to dimiss them twice at the home of cricket.

Is Steve Harmison the man to do it? Or pehaps Graham Onions, his Durham team-mate, is a better option. Vote in our poll below and let us know your thoughts.

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Room 4-4-2: Soul Limbo

It's the sound of summer. No, not leather on willow, but the bink, tink, tink, a-tinka, tink, tink of the BBC's cricket coverage theme tune. This iconic piece of music, which takes its place in our summer hall of fame, was recorded by Booker T and the MGs.

The track was released on Stax as the title track of the band's 1968 album, their eighth for the famous Memphis label. The soul quartet, who were also the house band for Stax, specialised in instrumentals and backed artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd and Wilson Pickett.

Soul Limbo peaked at No 17 in the American chart and at No 30 in the UK, making it one of their biggest hits. It was picked up by the BBC and used as the theme music for television coverage of the summer game and is still in use to introduce Test Match Special on radio. Suitably for a cricket theme, Soul Limbo’s B-side was called Heads or Tails.

The 1968 line-up for Booker T and the MGs was Booker T. Jones (pictured) on keyboards, Al Jackson Jr on drums, Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass and Steve Cropper on guitar, with Terry Manning guesting on marimba.

What would you like to see in Room 4-4-2? Send your suggestions to room442@thetimes.co.uk

Words by Calvin Shulman

Ashes debate: is Kevin Pietersen a cricketing genius or does his ego hurt the England cause?

Richard Neale

Few would deny that Kevin Pietersen is the most talented batsman in the England team. Entering the Ashes he was averaging better than 50 and his record against the old enemy is considerably better still.

Let us not forget, also, that but for his monumental one-man rearguard action against Australia in the final Ashes Test of 2005, England would more than likely still be waiting to regain the old urn that left these shores with Allan Border’s 1989 tourists. KP scored 158 out of a home total of 338 all out that day at the Oval, for the record, when bar Ashley Giles, his team-mates around him succumbed to the intense pressure.

Pietersen again looked a class act on the opening day in Cardiff, playing a restrained and controlled innings along with Paul Collingwood to steer England into a position of superiority after they had stood precariously at 90-3 with the departure of Ravi Bopara.

But shortly after Collingwood had been caught behind, KP had one of those customary rushes of blood to the head when his ego took hold and he tried the most audacious (many would say foolish) shot of the day, trying to paddle sweep a ball from Nathan Hauritz from a good yard outside off stump. He top-edged it to a grateful Simon Katich at short leg and was gone for 69.

It was a shot of a man who has total belief in his own ability no matter what the situation. It also cost him his wicket and his team what would doubtless have been a firm grip on the first Test at the end of the opening day.

Which leaves us to ask: do you think Kevin Pietersen is a cricketing genius who should be allowed free rein or a selfish cricketer who puts himself above his team?

What will Michael Vaughan's legacy be?

Carrie Dunn

If the reports are true, Michael Vaughan will announce his retirement from cricket on Tuesday.

And the announcement would have been sooner - probably immediately after the Ashes squad was revealed without him in it - had he not had to extricate himself from a central contract with the ECB.

So is this the right time for him to retire gracefully? Perhaps it may even be a month or two too late. With his county form so below par this year, he could hardly have genuinely expected a call-up for the summer series. After his long-running ongoing knee problems, he has never recovered any kind of sparkling form with the bat. Yorkshire, pushing for silverware, don't need to carry any passengers not entirely focused on winning county honours, nor do they need any distractions from what happens on the field.

Having said that, in another sense the timing is fitting - stepping down immediately before a home Ashes series reminds us of how brilliantly he led his side in 2005. Reclaiming the urn after so many years of unrewarded toil against Australia will be many people's overriding memory of him; but his dynamic captaincy over several years, making England into a side that knew how to win, should not be forgotten. His team were unbeaten during 2004, including a run of eight consecutive victories; they beat the West Indies and South Africa away for the first time in years; and they won every single home Test against the West Indies and New Zealand.

Is this the right decision for Michael Vaughan - and what will his legacy be?

Debate: how important is Pietersen to England's Ashes hopes?

Kevin Pietersen once more underlined his value to the England team on Sunday, celebrating his return to the side by top-scoring with 58 from 38 deliveries against Pakistan at The Oval to help the hosts avert a humiliating early exit from the World Twenty20.
 
KP has been bothered by an old Achilles injury which has flared up again recently, and was given a cortisone injection to help alleviate the pain having missed the opening match against the Netherlands.
 
While England fans are no doubt grateful that his contribution helped at least preserve their interest in the tournament into a second week, would it surely not be better to have him rest up and guarantee he is in tip-top shape for the Ashes?
 
How important to you think a fit Pietersen is to England's chances of regaining the famous old urn and do you think they are right to risk his participation in the summer showpiece against Australia by playing him in the shorter form of the game?

Rafa Nadal leads the way, but who are the world's most sporting sportsmen?

Times Online

Rafa Nadal has won new friends around the world due to the graciousness with which he accepted his first defeat at the French Open on Sunday.

After four straight victories at Roland Garros, it would have been understandable for the world No 1 to shun the press, hop on a plane and sulk at home in Mallorca.

Far from it. Nadal, speaking exclusively in his Times Online blog, insisted his defeat to Robin Soderling in Paris "was not a tragedy". "It was only a tennis match," he said. "No big drama. It happens, and I knew it would happen one day. I played really bad and on top of that he played well.”

Readers of his blog have been quick to congratulate the Spaniard on his attitude. “The way that you and Roger Federer conduct yourselves, win or lose, is a great credit to you both and your sport. I wish people in other sports could learn from that,” said Chris.

Is it a blessing England have missed out on the IPL?

Ever wondered why Mike Atherton was named Specialist Correspondent of the Year and was runner-up in the Sports Writer of the Year at the Sports Journalists' Association awards earlier this month?

Then look no further than his magnificent column in today’s The Times regarding the Indian Premier League.

Atherton writes: “The IPL has found its home in South Africa, but while the negotiations were continuing, where was English cricket’s Jamaica Kincaid [The Antiguan-born writer who refused to shake Allen Stanford’s hand when she met him because he thought he was a crook]? Nobody — certainly not the ECB, nor the county executives who cannot see beyond the next rupee — had the clear-eyed sense to say, and loudly, “thanks but no thanks” and spurn the handshake.”

He later adds: “And because commercial language is the only language understood by those such as Andy Nash, the Somerset chairman, who suggested that the ECB should ‘move heaven and earth’ to host the IPL in England, let us put the argument more simply: why would you risk devaluing your own ‘products’ — your first-class competition, your premier one-day competition and your opening Test matches of the season — to inflate the value of your prime competitor?”

Go on, treat yourself. Take five minutes out of your busy day to read our Cricket Correspondent’s column in its entirety and then come back and have your say.

Do you think it is a blessing that England has missed out on hosting the IPL – and should we, in fact, have been courting those riches from overseas in the first place having had our fingers so well and truly burned by a certain Mr Stanford?

Debate: does Michael Vaughan deserve one last crack at the Aussies?

Richard Neale

Michael Vaughan’s international cricket future is in the balance after he was left out of the 16-man England party for the four-Test series against West Indies which starts in Jamaica on February 4.

Geoff Miller, the national selector, has stated that the door still remains ajar for the 34-year-old, saying: “he does, however, remain very much in our thoughts as we continue to plan for the Ashes series against Australia."

Vaughan is the most successful England cricket captain ever in the Test arena, but has been dogged by poor form and bad luck in his attempts to win back his place in the team since resigning the captaincy last year. He managed just 43 runs in four innings for Yorkshire at the end of last season and missed the chance to impress the selectors when the England performance squad’s tour of India was cancelled because of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.