HISTORY was made 20 years ago on when 23-year-old Stephen Harmison became the first cricketer from the County Durham cricket academy to play for England after his selection against India at Trent Bridge for the second of a five match Test series. It was to be the start of a glorious eight years for Harmison who went on to play 63 Tests, 58 one day internationals, and two T20s for England before he played his last game for his country in August 2009.

The Northern Echo: A young Steve Harmison, a County Durham player, at the start of the 1998 season

A young Steve Harmison, a County Durham player, at the start of the 1998 season

Against India at Trent Bridge, Harmison, who comes from Ashington in Northumberland and had made his debut for Durham in 1996, had a tough introduction to Test match cricket as he had to bowl at Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar who put on 74 runs for India's third wicket, and he did not take a wicket in his first spell.

He did better in his second spell when he claimed the wickets of Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel and finally Harbhajan Singh as India closed on 357 all out with Harmison's figures 20 overs - 7 maidens - 57 runs - 3 wickets. Most of Harmison's deliveries were clocked at around 89mph to 90 mph, not a Brett Lee or Shoaib Akhtar, but with his 6ft 4in frame giving him steep bounce from the pitch, quick enough.

The Northern Echo: England's Steve Harmison celebrates India's Ajith Agarkar wicket, Friday August 9, 2002, after Mark Butcher caught him for 34,  during the second day of  the Second NPower Test Match between England v India at Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Harmison celebrates after taking his first England wicket, of Ajith Agarkar on August 10, 2002

England replied with a massive 617, Michael Vaughan hitting 197, Craig White 94 not out, Alec Stewart 87 and Mark Butcher 53.

India batted out the final two days to get a draw, finishing on 424-8 with Rahul Dravid hitting 115, Sachin Tendulkar 92, and Sourav Ganguly 99. Harmison's figures were 29 overs - 5 maidens - 63 runs - 2 wickets, giving him match figures of 5-120, a good start to his Test match career.

At the end of that year, he went on the England tour to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where he returned 9-79 against Bangladesh. He was also selected for the winter tour to the West Indies in 2003-04 where he produced some of his finest bowling and finished the highest wicket-taker in the series which included 7-12 when the Windies were shot out for just 47 in Jamaica in March 2004, their lowest-ever Test score.

On the West Indies tour to England in 2004, Harmison took nine wickets in the final Test which brought him to 67 wickets in 13 games at an average of 23.92 and Pricewaterhousecoopers had him at the top of their cricket ratings for 2004. In 2007, Shane Warne listed him as one of his 50 greatest cricketers. Warne said: "On his day he is one of the most awkward bowlers to face in the world."

Before the 2005 Ashes series, Harmison created a record with the bat. He became the first English player in Test match history, and only the seventh worldwide, to top score in a Test when batting at number 11, after scoring 42 at number 11 out against South Africa at Cape Town in January 2005.

Then came the Ashes series of 2005 in which he played a vital role. In the First Test at Lords where Australia batted first, and Kevin Pieterson made his debut for England, Harmison came pounding in with a mixture of bouncers, seamers and good length balls. He drew blood from the face of Australian captain Ricky Ponting before having him caught by Strauss for just nine, and he finished with figures of 5-43.

However, Australia won the First Test before an absolute classic in the Second Test at Birmingham. To cut a long and very exciting story short, Australia needed 281 runs in their second innings to win the match. Harmison clean bowled Michael Clark for 30 with a slow yorker which Mark Nicholas on Channel 4 described as "one of the great balls", but Australia would not give in. Shane Warne and Brett Lee took the score to 220 before Warne was out, hit wicket bowled Flintoff.

From 220-9, Michael Kasprowicz and Brett Lee took the Australian score to 279-9, three runs from victory, when Harmison steamed in and bowled a short ball to Kasprowicz who got a nick as he fended the ball off and Geraint Jones behind the stumps caught the ball. England had won.

They eventually won the series 2-1 to reclaim the Ashes they had lost in 1986-87. Harmison had played his part.

The two series against the West Indies, the 2005 Ashes series and Durham winning the County Championship in 2008 were probably the highlights of Harmison's career.

By the time of the Ashes series down under in 2006-07, he was showing signs of inconsistency. Australia batted first in the first Test at The Gabba, Brisbane, and Harmison bowled the first ball which went straight to Flintoff at second slip and was later called "the worst ball in Test cricket". Harmison was taken off after conceding 17 runs in two overs and was replaced by James Anderson, which could have been a pivotal moment in his England career. He later admitted to letting down skipper Flintoff, and England lost the series 5-0 – the first whitewash since 1920-21.

Inconsistent performances, loss of form, injuries, fierce competition, meant Harmison's England career at all levels was over in 2009. His last Test match was against Australia at The Oval in 2009. He bowled four overs in the first innings with figures of 0-15. In the Australia second innings, he took 3-54 but they were the number nine, ten and eleven batsmen Siddle, Clark and Hilfenhaus, two in successive balls though, as England reclaimed the Ashes after the whitewash of 2006-07.

LAST week, we asked the question: Sunderland did it in 1979, Villa managed it in 1981, so who did it in 1980? The answer was Sir Trevor Brooking. Alan Sunderland in 1979, Brooking in 1980 and Ricky Villa in 1981 all scored goals to help their clubs win the FA Cup at Wembley.