Harmison hopes to fire on Diwali day

He tried to surf through different channels on his hotel room TV last night, but somehow couldn8217;t get to watch the Australians go down against Brian Lara8217;s West Indies.

He tried to surf through different channels on his hotel room TV last night, but somehow couldn8217;t get to watch the Australians go down against Brian Lara8217;s West Indies. But the result, pace spearhead Steve Harmison says, won8217;t change the way he8217;s going to go about his job when England take on the world champions at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Diwali day.

Harmison, simply, 8220;can8217;t imagine bowling any differently to Ponting, Gilchrist, Martyn8221; than what the team had planned just because Australia lost the other night. 8220;Not really, I can8217;t imagine we8217;ll bowl any different, it won8217;t change the way England will perform against them,8221; he says.

What will matter, though, is how the 6 ft 5in Durham paceman shapes up with the white new ball. It8217;s not been a happy sight watching him bowl all over and getting smashed 8212; remember that first wide he sent down the legside against India that Virender Sehwag would have struggled to reach with a bargepole. Harmison knows greater discipline is needed now, particularly when he will have to switch between a left-hander Adam Gilchrist and a right-hander Shane Watson while trying to make the most of the new ball and maximise the power-play effect.

8220;The brand new white ball is a bit difficult to grip but that8217;s my job. I8217;ve got to get over that and combat it. I haven8217;t done it well in the last 6-7 months but I8217;ve been working hard in the last 3-4 days to try and do that. I8217;m confident that I8217;m pretty close to doing that,8221; he says.

At the nets on Thursday, Harmison was going through the rehearsals, bowling at a single stump, alternately keeping the off-stump line for both right and left-handers, bowling at a slightly lesser pace before hitting the deck hard.

Harmison says he is just happy to hold the ball and run in hard. 8220;I8217;m keen to bowl whenever Flintoff says, 8216;Harmy, you8217;re bowling8217;. I8217;ll bowl with the new ball, old ball 8212; it doesn8217;t really matter. As long as I8217;m not carrying the drinks, I8217;m just happy bowling.8221;

England8217;s main concern, against a long-Australian batting line-up, will be their bowling. Sajid Mahmood showed some promise in the last match but James Anderson, who relies heavily on swing, didn8217;t succeed. The support bowlers 8212; Yardy, Collingwood and Dalrymple 8212; will be looking, at best, to roll through the 20 overs between them.

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They hope that their batting line-up will fire, too, wrapped as it is around two of the world8217;s most explosive batsmen 8212; Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. Then there are the likes of Andrew Strauss, Michael Yardy, Collingwood and Ian Bell, to hold the other end up.

For the moment, though, it8217;s important to keep the Ashes out of the mind and focus on October 21. Even if a loss on Saturday means an early flight home and lots of time to prepare for the November date Down Under.