It's round 1 between Steve Harmison and Geoffrey Boycott.

[Speedboy Salesman]

Originally Posted by Cricinfo

Steve Harmison, the England fast bowler, has struck back at Geoff Boycott after the former opening batsman had launched a scathing attack at him in a column for Daily Telegraph. Boycott had virtually written off Harmison after his poor display in the first Test against New Zealand in Hamilton, urging the selectors not to give him a central contract. "Since the Ashes series of 2005 he has been poor, indifferent to bad. He's not got enough wickets and been given so many chances," Boycott wrote in his column. "There comes a point when the public and selectors get fed up and disillusioned with a guy not delivering. That time has come. If he gets a central contract this summer over some of the new kids, or any sort of central contract, then a lot of us will be screaming: favouritism and a total waste of money. England should forget him."
Harmison's reply was equally cutting. In his column for Mail on Sunday, Harmison wrote: "No one can dispute the man could bat but over the years he has developed an equally well deserved reputation as someone who thrives on kicking a man when he is down ... Enough is enough. His remarks about me this week have gone beyond what is acceptable and it is time someone stood up to him and told him so.
"People who only have a passing interest in the game hear the famous Geoff Boycott Yorkshire accent and may think it gives some status to his opinions. But inside the dressing room he has no status, he is just an accent, some sort of caricature of a professional Yorkshireman."
Harmison went on to add that a couple of batsmen currently in the England team didn't have a high opinion of Boycott either. "Their shared experience was that when things weren't going well for them all they heard from Boycott was him nailing them in the newspapers or on radio or TV, then, if they made a century or played well, he would come up to them full of compliments and try to ingratiate himself with them. I'm not the only England player who has been forced to take it in the neck from Boycott and I won't be the last."
Harmison also took a dig at Boycott for his comments on Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait's decision to take a break from the game due to exhaustion. Boycott had said Tait's decision had "lacked character".
"I wonder what Australia's Shaun Tait thought recently, when, after announcing he was taking an indefinite break from the game due to physical and emotional exhaustion, Boycott reacted by claiming he should have shown more desire to work through his problems," Harmison wrote. "You get the feeling that Boycott is an insecure man who needs to be heard."
As a parting shot, Harmison had this to say to Boycott: "You say that if England give me another central contract come October that would be waste of money. To me, you are a waste of space."

I wonder if Boycott expected Harmison to react like this or not...

[Rachael]

Boycott asked why Harmison was talking about his critics instead of explaining a ridiculously long run of sub-standard / disappointing performances. Seems fair enough to me.

[Moss]

I'm on Geoffrey's side. He has a good career behind him to back up his talk. Harmison has a patchy career with occasional flashes of excellence, but that's mainly down to the pitch.
Harmison launches himself on people like this. He laid into Hussain last year in a similar vein.
If you can't take the heat, either shut up or let your bowling do the talking.

The sooner this moaning has-been retires from International Cricket, the better.
As long as he doesn't think he has a future in journalism.

[greg]

Well Harmison should stop talking and start performing.Not that he will though so talking is all he is good for.

I hope we never see him play for England again as he has been ordinary for over 3 years and is lucky to have played as many games as he has.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by greg

I hope we never see him play for England again as he has been ordinary for over 3 years and is lucky to have played as many games as he has.

Greg and Moss,

You both disappoint me. I thought you were better judges. I have stated in another thread that Harmisons decline is not to be relished.

He is potentially the best bowler that England have, he is tall, loose limbed and a natural fast bowler. The fact that he has lost so much confidence is not a good thing. The guy has not performed, but we do not have another person with that much natural talent.

This is a sad thing. It is sad for England, the fact that you want him to retire is sad. If he bowls to his potential (which I admit he has not) he could be the best bowler in the world. As England "fans" you are behaving more like Red Tops hacks, desperately rushing to kick a man when he is down rather than hoping to find a way to help him up again.

If Harmison was Australian, the papers (including Mr Boycott) would not be rushing to write his obituary, but they would be talking him up. I am a big England fan, but I do hate the fact that we love to knock the successful and enjoy it when players in any sport fail to live up to their potential.

If you think you are England fans - then you are thoroughly mistaken. The best thing for England is not Harmison out of the team, but a fit firing Harmison living up to his potential. We may not see that again, for me that is not something to enjoy and gloat about.

[greg]

I am not enjoying it but i am glad he is out of the team as they were suffering as a result of having a liability amongst a 4 man bowling line up.Sadly though we have replaced like for like with Anderson taking over the jokers role.

I would love nothing more than for Harmison to go back to Durham and take a stack of wickets and earn his place back by virtue of his performance and not his previous reputation from 30 games ago but i can't see it happening.

[Notts Exile]

Unfortunately, FF, Harmison has done so little in the past few years to deserve your praise. Yes, he did perform maginificently for a short period of time and was rated as the best in the world. Unfortunately, since then, we have witnessed a man who has put in far more of his fair share of abject performances. If Harmison can go back to Durham and sort himself out then that's great. I, however, doubt he will ever be performing consistently at the top level again. I'd suggest we have seen more sessions of quality bowling from Stuart Broad in this series than we have from Harmison in the past two years.

The best thing for England would be for Freddie, Simon Jones, Harmison and Trescothick to all be playing regularly for England. As it is that won't happen; Freddie and Simon Jones have been out due to physical reasons and both Tresco and GBH have (differing) mental issues. It would be wonderful if they could play but it won't happen and we just have to live with that. The Ashes winning side won't get back together and neither should it. We must now look forwards; Broad is part of that and Jimmy might be too. I doubt that Harmison is but would be happy to be proved wrong. However, I am pleased that the selectors have dropped him, the way he played in the first Test match, we would not now be looking at a possible Series victory.

[flanflinger]

NE,

I agree with you.. what I am objecting to is not the fact that Harmison has been dropped, but the fact that there is great pleasure in some quarters that seems to be coming from some people.

All I am trying to get across is the decline of Harmison is not a good thing. He is not that old, could have four or five years at the top, and the fact that he has been dropped (and with reason) is a thing to mourn not celebrate.

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by flanflinger

what I am objecting to is not the fact that Harmison has been dropped, but the fact that there is great pleasure in some quarters that seems to be coming from some people.

I don't believe any of our fellow posters are taking great delight in the plight of Harmison. I'm sure that we all loved watching him terrorise the opposition. However, I suspect many share the opinion that his time was well and truly up, in fact it may have been up for a while. He seems happy to bleat to the press and comes across as though he believes he should be in the side (with some divine right too). Many of us are fed up of watching (nay, suffering) his half-hearted (well they looked that way) performances. Too many professional sportspeople really don't seem to realise how many of us can only dream of doing what they do. How many of us would dearly love to step out at Lord's to represent our country. Harmison appeared to take that for granted. That should never happen.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Notts Exile

I don't believe any of our fellow posters are taking great delight in the plight of Harmison. I'm sure that we all loved watching him terrorise the opposition.

How do you read these posts then?

Originally Posted by Moss

The sooner this moaning has-been retires from International Cricket, the better.

Originally Posted by greg

I hope we never see him play for England again as he has been ordinary for over 3 years and is lucky to have played as many games as he has.