Now Harmy retires too

Ironic that the last man standing of the 2005 fast bowling attack is the most injury-raddled of the lot - SiJo. Anyway, thanks for the memories Steve (apart from the first ball at The Gabba obviously).

For some, thanks for the memories of that first ball as well.

Oh how we laughed, etc.

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus.


Aye, Fred bowed out first, gap, then one, two, three. All gone from 2005, bar the shouting (heavily engineered shouting)  that is T20.

He's already been reincarnated as Steve Finn.

Well played (in the main), Harmy.  

For somebody who's copped his fair share of ridicule and never seemed anything like a long-termer, he did hang in there a good while.....well done Harmy.

For somebody who's copped his fair share of ridicule and never seemed anything like a long-termer, he did hang in there a good while.....well done Harmy.

aye...a damned frightening bowler on his day

He was a genuine threat on his day and would charge in when asked. Belittled constantly to the point of ridicule, which is pretty harsh for 226 @ 31.

It is, but the combination of the abject homesickness and then THAT first ball for the Ashes holders inevitably did for him - almost whatever else he had achieved.

Yet for about a year and a half he was the English Curtly - height, bounce. menace.

I think a lot of his apparent demeanour was blown out of all proportion and used by lazy journalists who couldn't be bothered to do any real work. That ball was a shocker - Mitchell Starc rivalled it in the last Ashes - there were a few chuckles, but nothing like the incredible hyperbole that Harmison's ball brought. Yes, he said he missed home - who doesn't after long periods away?

Point being that the media are basically a bunch of sheep who follow the one who bleats loudest or who bleats the most prolifically. They're hardly microcosms for his entire career.

He underachieved, like many an English quick, his raw tools were pretty impressive - I'd say that his stats are worthy of more - but all that seems to get mentioned are the things you just have. There're many spells that were brutal, yet will never, ever pass a mention. Not when you can bring up a ball that went straight to second slip. I mean, it went to second slip for Christ's sake. Let's talk about that. Why not. Haven't heard about it in, ohh... three weeks?

His radar was pretty shonky at times, but it was terribly unfair that his "heart" was often questioned. Never once did I see him just give up - he always ran in and bowled as fast as he could, even when the ball was pebbledashing the cut strip; even when he was a bit of a laughing stock in the crowd/press room.

He also never barrelled into the stumps like a startled cow on rollerblades. With labrynthitis.

I think Harmi still blames Mudge for the slagging he recieved from soap dodger fans...

Brass Monkey wrote:I think a lot of his apparent demeanour was blown out of all proportion and used by lazy journalists who couldn't be bothered to do any real work. That ball was a shocker - Mitchell Starc rivalled it in the last Ashes - there were a few chuckles, but nothing like the incredible hyperbole that Harmison's ball brought. Yes, he said he missed home - who doesn't after long periods away?

Point being that the media are basically a bunch of sheep who follow the one who bleats loudest or who bleats the most prolifically. They're hardly microcosms for his entire career.

He underachieved, like many an English quick, his raw tools were pretty impressive - I'd say that his stats are worthy of more - but all that seems to get mentioned are the things you just have. There're many spells that were brutal, yet will never, ever pass a mention. Not when you can bring up a ball that went straight to second slip. I mean, it went to second slip for Christ's sake. Let's talk about that. Why not. Haven't heard about it in, ohh... three weeks?

He was at the top of the world bowling rankings for about a year, in whatever the ratings were called at the time. Must have been around the time he went with England to the Caribbean (at a time WIndies seemed to be showing signs of a recovery) and blew them away.

That's what I was getting at with the "English Curtly" bit.

Oh yeah, he was out of this world. Everything clicked and he blew up. I was just saying that he should be remembered for more than one ball and one comment. I blamed the media for such.

Brass Monkey wrote:He was a genuine threat on his day and would charge in when asked. Belittled constantly to the point of ridicule, which is pretty harsh for 226 @ 31.

Aye, that's a class Test return.

skully wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:He was a genuine threat on his day and would charge in when asked. Belittled constantly to the point of ridicule, which is pretty harsh for 226 @ 31.

Aye, that's a class Test return.

310@30.81 would take the gloss of your comment

Harmy was one of the guest speakers on the Ashes tour I was on one morning.  

Very charming (and physically huge) guy.  Talked a lot about the challenge of playing Australia (how he must have wished he was 10 years younger) and as a Northener was very critical of the next AShes itinerary when the most northerly Test match is in Birmingham.

JGK wrote:Harmy was one of the guest speakers on the Ashes tour I was on one morning.  

Very charming (and physically huge) guy.  Talked a lot about the challenge of playing Australia (how he must have wished he was 10 years younger) and as a Northener was very critical of the next AShes itinerary when the most northerly Test match is in Birmingham.

Brum to Manchester: 138k, about the distance from Melbourne to Ballarat, mostly on motorway.

Dare I say: SIUUBG.

How far is it to Newcastle?

About 330 - or half a tank of Newcastle Brown Ale.

Fred Nerk wrote:
Brum to Manchester: 138k, about the distance from Melbourne to Ballarat, mostly on motorway.

Dare I say: SIUUBG.

Heh.

TBF, he's just being a parochial Northern bastard, rather than a homesicker.

And justifiably so.