Harmison primed for the arrival of Butcher
FORMER England team-mate
Mark Butcher has been promised
a tough time by Steve Harmison
when Surrey visit Riverside for
the LV County Championship
match starting today.
Butcher is among those who
have recently had a dig at Harmison,
who responded by saying:
"I'm looking forward to seeing
him from 22 yards."
Former England coach Duncan
Fletcher jumped on the bandwagon
at the weekend by asking:
"Why does Harmison need
things like that to motivate him?
He should be the No 1 bowler in
the world, but he can't seem to be
able to put it all together."
Harmison bowled superbly
against Surrey at the Oval last
season, taking seven of the 14
wickets Durham captured in a
six-wicket defeat.
Coach Geoff Cook leapt to his
defence after Sunday's Friends
Provident Trophy win against
Yorkshire, saying: "It's not easy
when you have had a lot of vitriol
thrown at you to go out and
perform in front of the Sky cameras.
I thought he showed a lot of
character and he was looking a
lot like his old self towards the
end."
An unbeaten 68 by Rikki
Clarke took Surrey to victory at
the Oval last year, but he has left
to captain Derbyshire. In the return
fixture at Riverside, Jon
Batty ground out a second innings
century to save Surrey
from defeat, so Durham will feel
they owe their visitors one.
With Neil McKenzie coming in
at No 4 for his championship
debut, Gordon Muchall has been
left out of the 13-man squad.
Durham must decide whether
to hand the fourth seamer's role
to Ben Harmison, who would
strengthen the batting at No 7, or
choose between Mark Davies and
Neil Killeen.
Despite Killeen's fine early season
form, they will be keen to
give Davies a game as he has
often been a prolific early-season
wicket-taker.
The last time Surrey visited
Riverside in April, they arrived
as champions in 2000 and lost by
231 runs. The survivors from that
side are Butcher, Batty and Alistair
Brown, while the only members
of the Durham team for that
match in today's squad are
Harmison and Killeen.
Surrey have replaced Clarke by
signing left-hander Usman Afzaal
from Northamptonshire and
he was one of three century-makers,
along with Butcher and Mark
Ramprakash, in last week's draw
against Lancashire at the Oval.
Ramprakash needs two more
hundreds to become the 25th person
to score 100 first-class centuries.
Australian seamer Matt
Nicholson returns after missing
the Lancashire game through illness
and is likely to open the
bowling with Barbadian Pedro
Collins, a Kolpak signing who
has played in 32 Tests.
They will be supported by another
West Indian, the highlyrated
all-rounder Chris Jordan,
who has quit his two-year scholarship
at Dulwich College because
Surrey want him full-time.
DURHAM (from): D M Benkenstein (capt),
M J Di Venuto, M D Stoneman, K J Coetzer,
N D McKenzie, P Mustard, B W Harmison,
L E Plunkett, P Wiseman, G Onions, S
J Harmsion, M Davies, N Killeen.
9:54am Wednesday 23rd April 2008
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CommentPosted by: Richard, Hartlepool on 12:11pm Wed 23 Apr 08
Where is Paul Collingwood? It would be intereting for the readers to know if he is injured or is being rested. He is after all, a big player for Durham. Can you shed any light?
Where is Paul Collingwood? It would be intereting for the readers to know if he is injured or is being rested. He is after all, a big player for Durham. Can you shed any light?
Posted by: Geoff Boycott, Yorkshire on 4:26pm Wed 23 Apr 08
Richard,
Paul Collingwood is being rested by the ECB ahead of this summers test matches against N.Zealand & S.Africa. I hope he's in the nets working on his technique & cutting out any wofts outside off stump. Thank you for your question.
Richard,
Paul Collingwood is being rested by the ECB ahead of this summers test matches against N.Zealand & S.Africa. I hope he's in the nets working on his technique & cutting out any wofts outside off stump. Thank you for your question.
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