Stephen James Harmison is a former cricketer who represented England in all forms of the game from 2002 to 2009 before retiring in 2009.
He was born in Ashington, Northumberland, England on October 23, 1978. Harmison was a fast bowler who bowled with his right arm.
Between 2015 and 2017, Harmison managed Ashington, a ninth-tier English football club, until declaring his retirement.
Background
Since making his first-class debut for Durham at the age of 18 in 1996, he was called up to the England squad in 2000. Two years back, he made his List A debut.
In 2001–02, he was part of an ECB National Academy touring team that included Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, and Robert Key, and he demonstrated his talent and impressed on the tour of Australia.
Debut
Harmison was first called up to the England squad in May 2000 for the Zimbabwe tour of the country, but he did not play in any of the matches.
In 2002, Harmison made his Test debut in Nottingham, replacing the injured Simon Jones. In the match, he took 5 wickets.
He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka, finishing with figures of 2/39 and his first ODI victim Kumar Sangakkara.
Rise to Glory
After a strong showing on the Australian tour, he was called up to the England squad for the 2003 World Cup, but he did not play in any of the games.
In his first test against Bangladesh, he was called man of the match for taking 9 wickets for just 79 runs on a slow track.
He was the biggest cause for the West Indies’ lowest-ever ranking of 47 at Sabina Park in Jamaica, where he finished with figures of 7/12.
In that season, he took 23 wickets and was named the man of the series.
Brian Lara goes so far as to say that England had no plan B after Harmison on the next tour against the West Indies.
Harmison took 67 Test wickets at an average of 23.92 in 13 matches in 2004. After the West Indies series, Harmison’s bowling success pushed him to the top of the ICC ratings.
In 2005, Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack called him one of the top five cricketers of the year.
Low Points
He was erratic in his bowling, bowling straight to second slip in the 2006 Ashes opener, a wide that media pundits called “the worst ball in history.”
He declared his retirement from One-Day Internationals in 2006 and then came out of retirement in 2008, but he was never a regular in the ODI team.
He had psychiatric depression when he was a teenager, but he mistook it for homesickness during his international career.
Club Career
Durham, a first-class county side, was his first club, and he played for them for 16 seasons from 1996 to 2013. In 2007, he was a member of the South African Highveld Lions. In 2012, he was loaned to Yorkshire.
Retirement
He took a break from ODIs in 2006 before returning in 2008. He made his final T20I appearance against a Sri Lankan team that was playing their first ever T20I match, in which he failed to pick up a wicket and his team lost by two runs.
His last ODI was against the West Indies in the series decider on April 3, 2009, in which he gave up 17 runs in three overs without taking a wicket as England won by 26 runs.
His last test, against Australia on August 20, 2009, was a series decider, with England winning by 197 runs and he picking up three wickets in his final innings.
He declared his retirement from all modes of gaming on his own terms on October 6, 2013, after four years without appearing in any International cricket.