Harmoison earns England call-up

Harmoison earns England call-up

London, May 13: Durham fast bowler Steve Harmison was handed his first senior England call-up on Saturday, when he was named in a 13-man squad for the opening cricket Test against Zimbabwe at Lord's next week.

His call-up followed an impressive showing against Lancashire earlier this week when he claimed four for 74.

Harmison will fight it out for a place in the starting line-up with Warwickshire seamer Ed Giddins, who earns his reward for taking the selectors' advice and working hard on his fitness during the winter having made his Test debut against New Zealand last summer.

However, there are questions about Harmison's temperament, recently illustrated when he delivered five wides in an over at a crucial stage of Durham's Benson and Hedges Cup quarter-final defeat by Lancashire at Old Trafford.

He also reportedly turned around at the airport because he did not want to be away from home having been called up onto the England A tour to New Zealand this winter following Chris Silverwood's call-up to the senior tour of South Africa.

But England believe the pace of Harmison and Giddins' ability to swing the ball could be crucial early in the season with expected cloudy overhead conditions at Lord's.

``With a number of bowlers unavailable through injury, we wanted to find the right combination to support Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough,'' explained Graveney.

``We considered a number of bowlers including Angus Fraser, Martin Bicknell and Alex Tudor. What swung the decision was Stephen Harmison's extra pace and Ed Giddins' ability to swing the ball.''

``The final make-up of the attack will depend on our first sight of the wicket and the information we get about the likely weather conditions at Lord's during the Test Match,'' he added.

Warwickshire left-hander Nick Knight has also been recalled to replace Yorkshire batsman Michael Vaughan, who broke a bone in his hand batting against Durham last week.

Knight, whose last Test appearance was in the draw against South Africa at Old Trafford two years ago, was greatly disappointed to be overlooked during the winter when Vaughan broke a finger just before the fourth Test.

As stand-by batsman, he was the obvious player to fly out as cover to Cape Town but instead the selectors chose Mark Ramprakash and Knight had to settle instead for a consistent one-day series. He has started the season well by scoring 233 against Glamorgan last week.

England still plan to persevere with their plan to open with Mark Ramprakash alongside Michael Atherton, despite Knight's experience at the top of the order.

He will instead bat at number six - the position where he scored his only Test century against Pakistan at Headingley four years ago.

Graveney added: ``Mark Ramprakash will open the batting with Nick Knight batting at six - a position from where he has scored a Test Match hundred before.

``With a double hundred under his belt already, Nick has enjoyed good early season form and I know that he is desperately keen to get back into the Test squad.''

The squad: Nasser Hussain (capt), Michael Atherton, Mark Ramprakash, Graeme Hick, Nick Knight, Alec Stewart, Andrew Flintoff, Craig White, Andrew Caddick, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison, Chris Schofield, Ed Giddins.