Give me one good reason why Ottis Gibson should not be­ England's bowling coach kestephenson? ....there,­ point proved!

Much as though I hate to disagree with Stewie who was­ the real 150% cricketer who never gave up , Harmison is­ no longer a match winner and indeed he rarely was ,­ When he played on fast bouncy pitches his [ace and­ bounce got him wickets , certainly not guile . He no­ longer has the pace and when did we ;ast see a bouncy­ wicket !!! he has had his chances of comeback and how­ many times does he turn up on tour unfit . That is very­ unprofessional to say the least

I think the only reason Parmisan managed to bump­ Ponting on the cheek was the fact that he served up the­ rarest of double whammies. A straight quickish­ delivery. How on earth could Ponting have been­ expecting that. The Australian analyst had assured him­ that Cheese Parmisan had not delivered such a ball in­ this generation's memory. Then bang! Inexplicably­ his action goes all wrong and that chance in oh so many­ a straight ball. It would have hit anybody. Ponting had­ just been joking with gully that he needed body armour­ and the hugest of crash hats. And who in their rihght­ mind would have entered into a debate with him???

Can anyone explain why Otis Gibson is our bowling coach­ ???????

Harmison can only take wickets on the type of wicket­ found at Chester Le Street. Unfortunately these wickets­ are not found in the Windies, India, Pakistan, South­ Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand or Australia and that­ makes him harmless Harmison. The sad truth is that this­ also applies to Anderson and Sidebottom so who else is­ there to choose from ????

Simon Jones, if fully fit,­ must come back. Khan deserves a chance. Even Hoggard­ may be worth another look. I would stick with Broad. At­ least he tries to vary things with pace, grip and­ length. Other than these, I can't think of anyone­ else who is going to contribute to 20 wickets which has­ been our downfall for years, especially overseas.

Out and out match winner my bottom. Harmison has never­ been good enough at this level. He had one good series­ against the West Indies on a helpful pitch and has done­ precious little since. He is erratic,expensive and­ certainly produces no shocks. His bouncers are­ invariably wide. Bring on Amjid Khan immediately and­ lets give ourselves a chance of taking 20 wickets.

Stewart's right. Harmison's talent should not­ be wasted even if he's unpredictable. We have to­ take the risk.

No longer the "out nd out match winner" that­ the Gaffer suggests I think. The last time he won a­ match for England was against Pakistan in 2006. Not­ that I think it'll matter. I fully expect the­ Windies to serve up another dreadful dead pitch like­ the last one.

Oh yeah? Which old videos has Stewart been watching, or­ has he been on the rum? Not for nothing is Steve now­ known as Harmless-on! Seems more interested in making­ babies back home than bowling a maiden over never mind­ taking wickets. He did perk up a bit when Pietersen­ took over and brought him back, but KP himself has­ since thrown a wobbly or two and is no longer in­ position to put his arm round SH. Never was athletic,­ just tall and fast and all over the place with bouncers­ - that first ball of the last Ashes was enough to lose­ us the series 5-0! Now he apparently just dawdles in ­ to try and keep the ball straight-ish, so no danger at­ all! Ugh...and Stewart is the kind who becomes a­ selector - blind and brainless (and on what evidence­ did he even pray that we'd ever win a series­ easily??).

Harmison hasn't bowled really well for a very long­ time now so I find it ridiculous that Stewart is­ singing his praises so loudly. He consistently leaks­ runs without taking wickets and is far too­ temperamental to be a great strike bowler.I think the­ selectors have to stick with the team of last week with­ the exception of Sidebottom who has probably had his­ day.What about trying another of the young quicks?

About time someone plugged for the Harm-meister! He has­ been employed for too long as a workhorse abroad. He­ should be our strike bowler! Up and at 'em Steve-O!

What a crock
Harmison hasnt been effective since­ 2004
Even in the 2005 ashes he was the weak link in the­ 4 man attack.
Apart from giving ponting a scar on his­ cheek, his overall role was minimal compared to­ flitoff, jones and hoggard.
His bowling is predictable­ and ineffective on anything other than an old style­ oval pitch.

Must have five bowlers if there is any hope of winning­­ this test. We haven't looked like taking 20­ wickets­ in a test for soooo long. For all his faults­ Harmy has­ to play along with Broad and Anderson. Two­ spinners in­ Swann and Rachid to try something­ different. KP batting­ at three with Colly & Bopara­ for not only their­ batting but bowling to if needed.

Generally agreed then that he's a useless lazy git.

I've still not forgiven Alec Stewart for keeping­ for England when Jack Russell should have, but he's­ right this time. For all his unreliability Harmy is­ still able to shake up batsmen who are otherwise there­ for the duration.

Parmisan has the fear factor and is a match winner?­ Does he? Is he? Yawn. And yawn some more. Sure he would­ be a bit dodgy on an underprepared sunday afternoon­ wicket to the village idiot facing just after lunchtime­ closing. But at test level? Seriously, has anyone been­ watching this fool these last four or five years? He is­ singularly unimpressive and in both this series and­ India he has barely bowled a ball above 83mph and is­ constantly back and forth off the pitch with some mind­ ailment or other. Probably phoning his Mam. I have­ little idea as to how to bring about an improvement­ from our realistic status in the lower ranks, but I do­ know one thing....Parmisan is no saviour, not at all­ and never has been, he had a good run, a very purple­ patch several years ago but that is it, and everyone is­ entitled to that exceptional peak in form it­ doesn't mean it is the norm, in general he is a­ less than average bowler who once had pace and has­ never found commitment or accuracy.

p.hogg... do you not think that he not only looks­ disinterested, but is disinterested, looks listless and­ just apathetic at times, is/are reasons why he is­ slagged off so much.
The fact that he doesn't take­ wickets, or even looks like taking them, is another­ fairly important consideration.
I have said before,­ when he is on a cricket pitch the last place he looks­ as though he wants to be is on ...a cricket­ pitch.
Strauss to his credit has highlighted, publicly,­ the fact that Harmison is not performing and needs to­ pull his finger out. Stewart's comments are out of­ order as far as I am concerned and are a slap in the­ face for Strauss.

He gets in the side purely based on his being a­ "shock" bowler, yet the only thing shocking­ about him in the last couple of years has been his­ general attitude....Oh wait, he did "shock"­ the hell out of Freddie Flintoff by bowling the ball­ straight at him to open the Ashes test series in­ Australia at the end of 06...

Shame Fred was standing­ at 2nd slip at the time though...

Couldn't agree more with Alec Stewart, Harmy is a­ rhythm bowler and needs to be bowling, look at what we­ have when he doesn't bowl! NOTHING! At least he­ makes things happen, even if he's not taking the­ wickets he's a fear factor
The trouble is he seems­ to be the easy excuse and made a scapegoat,look at the­ uproar when the lad wanted to be home to see his new­ family,he sat with Hussein and gave a open and­ emotional interview and still got castigated, yet when­ Prior does exactly the same theres hardly a murmur!­ People need to get off his back and realise there are­ more things wrong with this team than Harmy.
Prior is­ not the answer keeping.
Cook is not consistent­ enough.
Broad takes wickets but puts too many dollies­ down leg side that the batsmen just leave, get them­ tighter and make them play shots, Glenn McGrath­ line.
Bells been found out.
Get him bowling and­ he'll give you results

Can you see those three sticks of wood at the other­ end? Good- now all you have to do is try to bowl the­ ball in the vicinity of them. Not two feet wide (off or­ leg), not six feet over the top of them. Good, now­ let's try and do it with a batsman at the­ crease!
Just a basic daily routine that Harmison goes­ through, and it still isn't working.