Harmison Defends Preparation

Steve Harmison says that England's preparation was not to blame for their hammering by Australia as they desperately try to avoid the humiliation of an Ashes whitewash.

The tourists' concise build-up, which comprised a solitary one-day match and two three-day matches, has been widely cited as a reason for England suffering defeats in the opening four Tests.

But the Durham fast bowler is adamant it was not a factor in their dismal displays. Harmison today took two for 34 as Australia reached the close of the second day in the final Test on 188 for four, trailing by 103 runs.

"A lot has been said about preparation, but I don't know what else we could have done," said Harmison. "When we got back from India (after the Champions Trophy), we went home for four days - and if we'd have come to Australia instead I don't think we could have played another game. "If we'd gone through to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy we'd have played one more one-day game before that first three-day game.

"I can't see what we could have done to prepare better - we just didn't perform. We just haven't performed in this series." Asked if he was sad to go leaving the tour, Harmison said simply: "No".

He claims his wickets today came despite the fact he was struggling for rhythm. He was given 16 overs in the absence of Matthew Hoggard, who was ruled out with a side strain.

"When you lose your best bowler of the series it's up to the other bowlers to step up a little bit, and we hope that's what we've tried to do," said Harmison.

"Jimmy (Anderson) bowled well, Monty (Panesar) bowled well - and I felt I got better as the day wore on. It's nicely poised; it's a good time to have a break and recharge the batteries and come back tomorrow."

Australia's veteran seamer Glenn McGrath was equally pleased after claiming three for 67 in an England total of 291 all out which featured a slump of six wickets for 45 before lunch.

"The Test is reasonably evenly poised," he said. "The first session is quite important - and if we can get through that without losing any wickets or not too many and get some runs on the board then I'd say we're in front.

"We felt this morning that if we could take a couple of early wickets we could do some real damage - and as you saw it was six for 50-odd, so you can't complain.

"I was pretty happy with the way I bowled. It was a bit of a frustrating first innings for me, with so many play and misses. But controlling that and remaining patient was important, and to walk off with three wickets I was pretty happy."