STEVE Harmison last night warned Australia's batsmen to expect a fiery reception this summer after insisting yesterday's five-wicket haul against Bangladesh was achieved with plenty to spare.

Harmison, who finished with figures of 5-38, claimed the fifth five-wicket haul of his Test career as the tourists crumbled for the second game in a row.

But, while the Durham paceman was virtually unplayable as he ripped through both ends of the Bangladeshi order, he is confident there is still far more to come.

With less than seven weeks to the start of the opening Ashes Test, Harmison is aware of the dangers of peaking too soon.

"I've got a couple more gears in me," claimed the Ashington Express.

"I wasn't really going at full pace, you didn't see many balls around the 90mph mark, so there is still more to come from me. I'm quite happy with the way things went because I was putting the ball where I wanted to very early on.

"I'd have settled for that in the morning.

"It's a pretty good wicket for the bowlers and we got our rewards for bowling the right length.

"You need to pitch the ball up at the Riverside and there were not many short balls out there. I put it in the right places and that's the most pleasing thing.

"But Australia will get me to that next gear - it's as simple as that.

"If you are not at the top of your game against them they will punish you.

"As soon as Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer or Ricky Ponting are in front of me, I know that something will click me into top gear. When you come up against the best players in the world, you raise your game to match theirs."

Harmison finished with just four wickets from two innings at Lord's last week but it took him less than three hours to beat that total at Chester-le-Street as Bangladesh were dismissed for a meagre 104.

The 26-year-old has struggled in the opening Test of a home series in the past and worryingly, with the Ashes due to kick off at Lord's next month, Harmison has admitted that he does not enjoy playing at the headquarters of English cricket.

"I'm not a big fan of bowling at Lord's," he confessed. "I like the place a lot - I just don't like having to bowl there.

"I've taken wickets at Lord's in the past. I took seven against New Zealand last year and, even when I bowled badly against South Africa in the past, I still ended up with two or three wickets.

"I just don't feel particularly comfortable there and it was nice to be bowling somewhere else instead."

It was particularly pleasing to be back in the North-East and after having started the season in such scintillating form for Durham, Harmison was delighted to have continued his rich run in front of his home fans.

"You could say that five wickets against Bangladesh doesn't mean as much as it does against other countries," he said.

"But I don't look at it like that. I'm delighted to have taken five wickets and I'd be delighted to take them against whichever country I was playing against.

"It's nice to have been able to do so in front of my home crowd with all my family watching from the stands, whatever the opposition."

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, who witnessed his side humbled in three hours for the third innings in a row, admitted facing Harmison on the bowler-friendly surface was the toughest of prospects for his struggling team.

''It is pretty close to as hard as it gets,'' said Whatmore.

''He is six and a half feet tall, letting it go at 85 miles per hour. That is a good test.

''But it is not a two-day game yet, we will work very hard not to let it be a two-day defeat.

''This game is terribly one-sided again and we have to dig deep and show some pride.''