Marathon Man Harmison Proves His Fitness and His Worth

Steve Harmison has been short of many things at times - fitness, rhythm, mileage, wickets - but he has always had more character than many people have supposed and he has confounded his critics in the most unpromising conditions imaginable here over the past two days.

His figures of three for 111 may sound unremarkable. But by bowling 41.5 overs in Sri Lanka's first innings he shot down the joke-jibe that he is the only bowler in history who requires a runner. Last night he thanked the bowling coach, Ottis Gibson, for helping him win back his Test place and warned the England and Wales Cricket Board not to let Gibson slip through their fingers as they did Troy Cooley.

"Gibbo's been brilliant," he said. "I'm sick of the sight of him, to be honest. I've had six weeks with him. He's a great bloke who really knows his stuff. I hope we don't make the same mistake with him that we made with Troy Cooley, when we had someone good and let him slip. We've got someone here who the lads respect and he gets on with everybody."

Harmison has had his resilience, both mental and physical, questioned in the past but here he showed stamina in both areas on one of the most unhelpful pitches he has bowled on.

There have been only nine occasions when an England fast bowler has bowled 40 or more overs in a Test innings in Asia and Harmison, who also did it in Lahore two years ago, and Ian Botham are the only names to appear twice. Richard Ellison, who like Botham was fast-medium rather than genuinely quick, bowled the most overs, 53, in Calcutta in 1984-85.

Last night a delighted Harmison, who is playing his first Test for six months, said: "I came here to fight for my Test place and I've got it back. I wanted to play in Kandy but I admit it would have been a massive risk. But now I'm back. People have doubted me in the past. But I've gone out there and shown how much I want to play for England. Forty-one and a half overs in that heat ... I can't do anything other than try my hardest.

"It was a long time in the field, I must admit. It was a tough day. But as long as I can look in the mirror at the end of the day and say I've given everything I am happy. I can go to bed tonight, sleep easy and be happy with my day's work."

He had thought he would limp out of this match without bowling a ball after turning over his ankle in a warm-up session. "I thought that was it. But it wasn't too bad and nothing is going to stop me playing now."

The England players psyched themselves up by playing loud music in the dressing room during the lunch interval. "We had an interesting lunchtime," Harmison said. "Music was blaring and people were dancing around like idiots. You have to keep your spirits going - if you die in a hole you are just going to get battered."

He thought that by batting on yesterday, with no real urgency, Sri Lanka may have helped England to save the game. "There was a period of about 15 overs where it was going nowhere. While they were going at one or two an over we were happy because it was time out of the game and that was good for England. We were 130, 140 behind and with four sessions left in the game you are going to struggle to win from that position.

"England have got to be happy with the effort we've put in. We're not happy we're behind the eight-ball but another day's fighting like we have been over the last four days and hopefully we'll come out with a draw and go to Galle and try and square the series."