News about Steve Harmison

Xclusive INTERVIEW BY PAUL NEWMAN: Opinions and cricketing aspire flow out of Steve Harmison's mouth as quickly as the deliveries that made him one of England's top fast bowlers are no longer accessible. When asked if Bazball would work in the toughest environment in Test cricket, Harmison said, "I don't see why England's style won't succeed in India because it's a mindset to me." When he said that you should forget who you're playing against in India, he had it right the other day.'

PAUL NEWMAN: It's the supremely well-equipped but also unlikely destination where England will train from afar for one of their toughest Test cricket ventures. They are adamant that nine days in Abu Dhabi's world-class facilities would give them everything they need to fight India when they fly to Hyderabad on the final 1,600-mile leg of their journey to Hyderabad on January 25. When Steve Harmison described England's plans to enter the first Test without any form of match practice as "madness."

Fans of England's Test series against India are likely to face a blackout, although television rights have yet to be decided. The five-match tour will begin on January 25th, but as it stands, there are currently no plans for the marquee event to be broadcast in the United Kingdom.

STEVE Harmison, one of the best pundits in cricket, has been unafraid to criticize even those he is closest to. So, one of England's top fast bowlers had no hesitation in taking his friend and former Durham teammate Ben Stokes to blame for what he feels to be a woefully bad preparation for one of the most difficult assignments in Test cricket, their forthcoming tour of India. Harmison's rhetoric has no agendas and certainly no nonsense. Even if that means calling Stokes and England out for trying to land in Hyderabad, something of an unknown destination for them just three days before the first Test, he says it as he sees it.

Ben Stokes has rebuffated Steve Harmison's critique of England's Test preparations for the forthcoming tour of India. Harmison, a former Durham teammate and close friend of Stokes, believes that arriving in India three days before the game's beginning is a recipe for disaster. Without spending longer acclimatizing to the conditions, he predicted the tourists would'deserve to be defeated 5-0, prompting a curt reaction from the England captain.

Since the horrific Top Gear crash that left him with 'life-changing' injuries, he has rarely been seen in public. However, retired England cricketer Freddie Flintoff was seen last week out training a guide dog, an activity he's taken up as part of his rehabilitation. Both the presenter and his canine companion all seemed to be making good strides, particularly because Flintoff, who suffered from falling asleep while walking his four-legged student in the beginning of his training.

Freddie Flintoff's friend has explained why the cricketer turned TV star avoided coverage for months after his near-fatal accident last year. Flintoff was filming a segment for Top Gear in December when the three-wheel open top vehicle he was driving flipped over, causing severe facial injury and several broken ribs. The Morgan Super 33,000 Morgan handmade car, which is described as a'motorized tricycle,' does not have airbags fitted, according to the company.

When he oversaw a warm-up session against England against New Zealand, Freddie Flintoff was all smiles. Flintoff appeared in public for the first time last week after a near-fatal car crash while filming the BBC's Top Gear show in December 2022. During Jos Buttler's one-day match against New Zealand, the 45-year-old consultant was pictured on the field at The Oval as England players went through their warm-up routine on Wednesday.

According to Piers Morgan, Freddie Flintoff watched the Ashes series 'incognito' in back offices this summer as a guest of England managing director Rob Key, who says he's delighted' to see his 'good friend' returning to public life. Flintoff was involved in a near-fatal car crash last December while filming an episode of BBC motoring series Top Gear at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey and being airlifted to hospital after breaking a rib and suffering facial injuries. The 45-year-old made his first appearance since the crash this week as he resumed to England cricket, with cuts evident on his nose and throat.

According to former England teammate Steve Harmison, Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff was still covering up his face just six weeks ago following his horrific car accident while filming Top Gear last year. In December, the former cricketer, 45, was involved in an accident while completing the BBC series at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey, with the father-of-four being admitted to hospital for further care. Flintoff, who suffered in a 125mph crash in 2019 a few months ago, was only seen for the first time since his injury this week.

Following the horrific crash he suffered while filming Top Gear, Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff has returned to the public eye. Flintoff made a quiet return to the game in the summer of 2023, retaining a low profile as a spectator at several Ashes Tests and being photographed with England's one-day side during their ODI series against New Zealand.

PAUL NEWMAN: It was a journey that began long before the serious crash when filming Top Gear that could have so easily been killed. It's one that saw Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff return to what many believe to be his rightful position in the England cricket team's coaching room this week. For a national treasure who came back from a brief playing comeback in 2014 by embarking on a varied and lucrative path away from television, the journey has been a long and difficult one. But it was perhaps accelerated by the most unexpected of circumstances when Flintoff, 45, suffered a severe injury and spent five weeks in hospital before beginning a long recovery away from the public eye.

OLIVER HOLT, CHIEF SPORTS WRITER. The Stade Velodrome in Marseille, which will host England's Rugby World Cup opener against Argentina on Saturday night, is one of the most remarkable venues I've ever visited. With that in mind, here are five other difficult arenas from my sporting travels that have unquestionably ignited the emotions.

Exclusive INTERVIEW By LAWRENCE BOOTH: Steve Harmison has sluggishly criticized England's Ashes preparations and believes they should be leading, not trailing, Australia 2-0 ahead of Thursday's must-win third Test at Headingley. Harmison, who took 226 Test wickets in a career that saw him in the Test rankings in 2004, said Ben Stokes' team paid the price for getting the little things wrong at Edgbaston and Lord's. England had more chances than Australia, bowled 41 no-balls to the Aussies' 15, and lost by two wickets and 43 runs in those games. When Brendon McCullum took over as head coach last year, he loosened his approach, encouraging players to net for as long or as little as they liked, and ending the requirement for the team to come together for a day's play well in advance of the season. Swinging a golf club has seemed to be as much a part of the pre-match routine as swinging a cricket bat.

Exclusive INTERVIEW BY DAVID COVERDALE: As Steve Harmison reflected on England's historic two-run triumph in Edgbaston, he brought back memories of another Ashes masterpiece. The similarities between the two Tests have boosted hopes that this summer's series will be anything but a thriller like that of 2005. Maxwell, on the other hand, isn't positive.

OLIVER HOLT: As Pat Cummins, Australia's captain, returned to his place and was poised to walk in from the Pavilion End to the first ball of the 73rd Ashes series, it was quiet. The Hollies Stand was not yet revived and raucous. There was a hush of anticipation. The first ball of the Ashes is one of the sport's most popular games. What happens sometimes sets the tone for what comes after. It's often that the odds are stacked against one team or another, it can be like the chronicle of a death foretold. It was like that in 2006, when Steve Harmison thundered in from the Stanley Street End at the Gabba in Brisbane to bowl the first Test at Justin Langer.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: The Ashes begins on Friday, with England and Australia likely to meet again in one of cricket's most popular rivalries. Both Ben Stokes and Pat Cummins will lead their teams into battle with the intent of not only winning, but also making their respective countries proud and putting on a show for all to enjoy. Lawrence Booth of Mail Sport takes a trip down memory lane in selecting his 10 best Ashes Tests ever.

It's funny to think that cricket would never have broken the rules of being a strange ball game virtually unheard of by the rest of the world. It was perhaps an island nation, but with its long maritime history, it had a reach way beyond its size. And of all the signs of Britain's loitering in foreign nations, cricket has to be one of the few things it left behind that is both very apparent and distinctive, and it is impossible to knock even to the most awakened. Simon Wilde's extensive history of the English cricket team abroad is so packed with excitement. Cricket tours are long, action-packed, and often gossip-filled.

LOS ANGELES: BOOTH OF ALL TIME: As Jimmy Anderson had the faintest of edges on a Neil Wagner short ball and Tom Blundell took the lead, England hearts broke as New Zealand claimed a one-run victory in one of the finest Test matches of all time. The game ebb and flowed both directions over the five days, before the Kiwis became just the fourth team in history to win after being asked to follow on. Lawrence Booth of Sportsmail picks out the five best Test matches he has ever seen in honor of the classic.

In English Test cricket, the guard was up for re-training. For the first time in whites at the expense of 2005 Ashes heroes Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, a 25-year-old Jimmy Anderson and a 21-year-old Stuart Broad were brought together in March 2008. England won the second Test in Wellington and went on to clinch the series 2-1, the last time they won in New Zealand. Anderson and Broad are back at the Basin Reserve in their 133 Tests together, eclipsing Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne's record of 1,001 last week.

PAUL NEWMAN: Jimmy Anderson spoke about the pivotal role he played for Auckland on Monday in New Zealand's historic strike partnership with Stuart Broad, but it was not without irony. Anderson recalled how Brendon McCullum, the now England coach, was 'fuming' when he did something similar at the start of the 2008 season here, with Australians led by Steve Smith apparently eager to use county cricket as preparations for this year's Ashes. It was a solitary appearance in New Zealand domestic cricket that made Anderson ready when, with England defeated 1-0 in a three-match series, Michael Vaughan and Peter Moores decided to move forward from the legendary Ashes winning pair of Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard to their young guns.

Mark Wood has reported the horrific surgical procedure that has restored his elbow and allowed England's new fastest bowler to return from a six-month absence in history. Wood matched rival Steve Harmison's 97-mph thunderbolt during his first Test in the Caribbean in March. Centurion Babar Azam for cents on Thursday, when Pakistan lurching out of the power play four wickets down and plunged them into a 63-run smarting that puts England's fourth and final Twenty20 at the National Stadium 2-1 up.

BY LAWRENCE BOOTH: You should probably know Mark Wood from this article. The lad from Ashington made a good job with the imagination horse, the extrovert whose inborn cheek has helped him cope with a career marred by injury. And if the horse has long been out of its virtual hell, he is all of those things, for sure. But at its root, it is a likeable contradiction. He is joking about the time he almost scythed off a toe with a lawnmower. He retells a terrifying panic attack on a flight to Amsterdam the next day. He can fool himself and can also be crippled by fear. It's almost universal to say that this is not normal autobiography. Wood does not follow convention: he is teetotal, survives for weeks on tour, eats only margherita pizza and wears goggles for chopping onions, and he is not a genius at chopping onions. He is a spinner with a twist.

PAUL NEWMAN AT OLD TRAFFORD: The music that accompanied England's practice at Old Trafford ahead of this crucial second Test was hardly in keeping with the team's all-out aggressive approach. On a 'dad rock' retro playlist from Brendon McCullum's boombox, Toto, John Denver, Foreigner, and John Farnham were all bowling close to 90 mph. "I had to walk over and skip a few songs," England captain Ben Stokes joked. 'But there was a really positive vibe in training.' Having that stuff on the background can help ease the mood and spark discussion. When we had some 1990s stuff on we were all asking Marcus Trescothick how he would dance to it in his pomp!'