Harmison must seek new direction home

There has been much hype about the succession of Peter Moores as England coach, and how the naming of his first sqaud might give an impression of which way he wanted to take the team. That said, it was still dear old David Graveney who popped up on the radio at 9.30 this morning to announce the 12 names, as if to remind us that he really does have a job after all.

Unusually for a new man, Moores did not have much room for manoeuvre. Still, there were signs of his influence, Matt Prior (rightly) selected as wicket-keeper and Owais Shah's early-season form recognised. Still, it was one of the more familiar names which should be of most interest this summer.

When England last lined up against the West Indies, Steve "grievous bodily" Harmison was coming off the back of the tour which made his name. At Sabina Park, with its hard shiny surface and low sightscreens, Jamaicans are used to seeing tall pacemen run riot. Not ones from England though. And so it was with some surprise that both sides watched him do what no English fast bowler had done for years, and win a Test match in one spell.

He followed it up too, demonising Brian Lara and co. throughout the four matches, and was possibly unlucky not to remove the great man before he had scored the first of his 400 runs on an Antigua pitch seemingly laid by the Department of Transport. That summer, the West Indies were back for more, and so was Harmison, with 17 wickets in another four-match series.

Since then, however, it has been a downward spiral. A nightmare tour of South Africa (9 wickets in 5 Tests) preceded an Ashes series in which he was sporadic, his bombardment of the Australians on the first morning at Lord's and his snaffling of the last wicket at Edgbaston masked generally mediocre performances. Another lacklustre year followed, only his demolishing of Pakistan on a pitch tailor-made punctuated the malaise.

By the time he stood at the end of his mark at the Gabba in November, he was only a fearsome fast bowler "on his day", had retired from one-day internationals, and was a shadow of the Sabina Park version. It showed, as his series began with Andrew Flintoff auditioning for the part of Justin Langer at second slip, and improved only slightly, from that lowest of base-camps.

The build up to his storming of the Caribbean three winters ago included him being sent home from the tour of Bangladesh and Angus Fraser suggested in his column that a similar cooling off period would be appropriate now, to remind Harmison that representing England is a conditional privilege.

Still, after such a good start to the season, he was never going to be ignored, even though England could probably beat the West Indies without him. At 28, and in his sixth year as an international cricketer, it is time for Harmison to shed his "enigma" image and front up. He cannot be criticised for commitment to his family, or even the aversion to leaving Durham. However, at this point, a decision has to be reached; either he commits fully to England and gives them his all for the four or so good years he has left as an international bowler. Failing that, both parties will have to accept that there is no point in selecting him any longer.

From his reaction both on and off the pitch after the Ashes, it is clear that the criticism and his own poor performances are hurting Harmison. And the circumstances for his return could not be more favourable; the opposition against whom he has performed best, 3 out of 4 Tests in the North and no one-day games to worry about. They are conditions tailor-made for a man who does best when swimming with the tide and from here on in, the buck must stop with him.