Steve Harmison looks at the ECB’s appointment of Ed Smith as England’s new senior selector, as well as their proposed 100-ball tournament for 2020, and reacts to Sunderland’s relegation from the Championship in the latest Hit for Six…
What do you make of the appointment of Ed Smith as England’s new senior selector?
I played in all of Ed’s three Test matches with England and got on really well with him. It’s not necessarily surprising, but we’re certainly people from two completely contrasting backgrounds.
He’s a good guy, and he’ll be good at what he does. People might question the appointment – his international credentials – but you’ve only got to read some of his books, what he writes, to know that this man knows what he is talking about.
The problem with England isn’t about the selectors, it’s about players not performing. There have been plenty of times over the past 12-18 months where players have been left out of the England team, gone back to first-class cricket and scored a load of runs or taken wickets, deservedly come back in but not performed again. Things like that, as a selector, you can’t do anything about.
But you can try to identify the right players in the first place. A lot of stats will tell you that there are players playing well, but have they got the mental application? Do they have the right attitude to be an international cricketer?
You can score as many runs as you like, but if you get a bit of stage fright, you’re not going to move forward. That’s what the selectors, the scouts, have to get in their mind.
It’s said that the new set-up will see Smith lead a team of around 12 scouts who will monitor the form of country cricketers up and down the county and report back: is that something that interests you?
I’m intrigued by the scouting system, and how that works.
There should be representation from the north of England. But, then again, as long as every player in county cricket is being watched – in the north and south – it doesn’t matter where the selectors or scouts are from. They could be from Timbuktu, for all I care.
I do think the scouting system should include a wide range of people – even county captains, umpires – and lean on players from the central contracts era and beyond.
I’m not saying that people before then can’t identify players, because they can, but the game has changed so much since the millennium that I’d rather go down that route.
People selecting at the moment have to have a reality of what the game has changed to – it is completely different now even to when I played.
Like quite a few things that have come out with the ECB over the last few weeks, people are going to have to wait and see how this all develops as Andrew Strauss and Ed put their system in place before being too critical and passing judgement.
You hint at it there; what has been your initial reaction to news of the ECB’s proposed 100-ball tournament to be introduced in 2020?
I must admit, and I’ll quite happily say, that I thought it was a wind-up at first. The thing people have to get in their heads is it’s just proposed – it’s not set in stone. When there’s more meat on the bones, you can have more of an opinion on where you see this going.
Twenty20 for its first five years was a bit of a hit and giggle. Another five years later and, in monetary terms, it was propping up the global game. So let’s not be too quick to judge it.
This 10-ball over thing at the end intrigues me. If it was me bowling it, we’d be there all day! I wouldn’t fancy that! But it’s something different, something new.
The only beef I’ve got with it is we’ve got something that’s working in Twenty20. Could we not have put more effort in trying to do something with the red-ball game? Try to bring that up to speed with the level of interest in the white-ball game.
Staying with the red-ball game then, Sky Sports’ David Lloyd recently said the season is too long and starts too early – do you share those concerns?
I do, because you’re seeing a little bit of ‘false’ cricket. The surfaces aren’t great, and so what does that do to the confidence of players?
I, personally, would not have let the Test players play this week, from a central-contract point of view. Players like James Vince, Mark Stoneman, that have just played for England – they’re in a no-win situation, expected to score runs and, if they fail, people are going to talk about it.
I agree with Bumble. You could reduce it to 10 first-class matches a season, seeing a lot less cricket played from a four-day point of view, but more productive cricket.
Currently, we’re always going to have four games at the start of the season where you’re going to see 250 being a great score. Is that right? It’s a test, but the wrong kind of test.
If you revisit this whole argument from a selection point of view, looking at stats, you could potentially have someone take 30 wickets at 15s early season, but who can’t bowl on anything other than a green seamer – would you want to stick him in a Test against India this summer, a flat pitch against Virat Kohli and co?
Durham lost that kind of low-scorer in their opening game to Kent, though I still think they’ll be in with a chance of promotion with Paul Collingwood (aka. Benjamin Button) back leading them.
They’ve lost a whole host of international players in recent years, so Paul’s leadership has been vital.
You’ve been covering the IPL with Sky Sports over the weekend: what have you made of the tournament so far?
It has been brilliant. World stars performing on the big stage! This is what I’d like England to have and have our young players be around.
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There are a lot of good, young Indian bowlers coming through – that comes from bowling in the nets to the top, top players, global superstars.
Chris Gayle was under pressure after having a couple of poor years, but he has started like a house on fire. AB de Villiers hit arguably one of the best innings’ you’ll see in white-ball cricket and Kane Williamson is scoring runs for fun.
Also, Trent Boult – what a catch! He will never pull off another one like that in his life. He’s no normal fast bowler – it would have gone straight over my head.
Watch how Trent Boult's truly staggering one-handed boundary catch dismissed Virat Kohli in the IPL!
It was brilliant, visually excellent. But, I’m going to be biased and say the one Colly took against Matthew Hayden at Bristol takes some beating for me. It was off my bowling, which helps.
For 18 years or so that I played cricket, caught Collingwood, bowled Harmison, was a regular occurrence, and there were some spectacular ones in there – two or three unbelievable ones at Durham too.
Talking of your great mate Colly, his beloved Sunderland have just been relegated from the Championship to League One. As a Newcastle fan, how does that make you feel?
It is scary how far the club has fallen. From a tongue-in-cheek point of view, it’s amusing as Sunderland fans were basking in the glory when Newcastle were relegated a couple of times.
But, for the hardened Newcastle fan, if you honestly asked them would they like to have the derby back, everyone to a man would say yes.
Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Sunderland and Burton.
A Newcastle-Sunderland derby season goes to the workplace, the houses, the families. It’s like two cup finals a year. That is now a couple of years away, at least. But, in reality, its lightyears away.
We’re currently doing well under Rafa Benitez, but we’ve got to keep him. Europe next season might be a stretch but if we don’t move forward now we never will and, while Rafa is there, we’ve got someone who knows how to do the job properly.
He has taken a lot of Championship-calibre players and looks likely to finish ninth in the Premier League with them. That’s credit to the players, but it also shows the respect they have for the manager, buying into ideas. He’s done amazingly to get the team to the position they’re in.
I’m not a massive Mike Ashley hater. The club is stable under him, but it is standing still. It’s not as volatile, or up and down as other clubs, but you’d like him to spend a bit more money.
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