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Steve Harmison

Steve Harmison for the first Test?


  • Total voters
    52

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I believe it was once said that the best bios come from unbiased sources. :ph34r:
Quality, in the circumstances, nor indeed accuracy, are particularly important - c'mon Rich - if you don't help us out I don't suppose anyone else will :)
 

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
Loving the timely sig Brumby
Do you mean his avatar? I only saw it for the first time today. I long ago deactivated avatars and all the blurb that everyone attaches to every post. But when I checked out the Leaderboard I saw people's avatars for the first time in a long time. Brumby's is absolutely brilliant. I also like SilentStriker's. (And everyone else's too, obviously)
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Quality, in the circumstances, nor indeed accuracy, are particularly important - c'mon Rich - if you don't help us out I don't suppose anyone else will :)
Well, Marc arrived early enough to make the 329th CW post (bear in mind that this one I'm about to make will be the 1965977th). I'm not sure exactly when it was that he joined the staff, but he was certainly a member by the time I joined in late-2003. By that time he already had something like 15,000 posts - my first thought upon joining was "bloody hell, he must have the most posts on here!" Upon finding-out that he did, and that the next closest was something like 4,000, I thought "surely he'll always have that as well". Only in perhaps early-2008 did I actually seriously countenance the prospect that I would soon be surpassing him.

Marc and myself enjoyed a notably strained relationship down the years - caused not inconsiderably by the fact that he believed I made many posts purely for the sake of either being deliberately contrary or purely for the sake of boosting my postcount. For my part, I thought he was often too quick to dismiss anything vaguely out-of-the-ordinary, though I had and still have far more time for him than several others around here. Marc made many enemies, as well as many friends. He left the staff in, IIRR, March 2005, and from around about that time his posting decreased in its regularity. He finally departed in June 2007, and a cross-section of the community reactions can be found here.

Marc was most famous for his love of one-line posts - rarely was this said as criticism or praise, but it was said by everyone familiar with his posting. At the time of his departure I think most believed it was likely to be an absence not lasting very long, but until earlier today I think most who remember him would have believed he was gone for good. There was speculation that he left not for the reasons he gave but because he did not want to reach 50,000 posts.

FWIW, I've always said that a CW without Marc is like a cup without a saucer - absolutely possible to get on with, but feeling ridiculously wrong because it isn't in the state which has come to be regarded as "standard".

Whereas a CW without, say, Liam Camps would be like a cup (of some hot liquid on a wooden table) without a mat - though the difference may not be observable to the casual eye, it would be catastrophic.
 
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GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Looks like the lure of the Ashes was too much for him to miss out on. Either that or he just wanted to post the fantasy footy thing and decided to check the cricket boards quickly. We'll see. Could be interesting.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Still, you've got to want to be first to 100,000 now surely? That would be a bit cool.
I probably will be (first to 100,000, that is - and who knows, far from inconceivable that I'll be the only one to it) but it really doesn't fuss me at all either way. It's not something that I think will be "cool" as such, and it certainly won't be a shame (as Marc - possibly - regarded it as) either.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Looks like the lure of the Ashes was too much for him to miss out on. Either that or he just wanted to post the fantasy footy thing and decided to check the cricket boards quickly. We'll see. Could be interesting.
If truth be told, been lurking for a couple of weeks, but can't use ignore lists on there, so thought it's better to log in so I don't have to read all the dick's that post...
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
If truth be told, been lurking for a couple of weeks, but can't use ignore lists on there, so thought it's better to log in so I don't have to read all the dick's that post...
Marc evidently been keeping up-to-date with the Precambrian situation then.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
From my post in the England in West Indies tour thread after Harmison was dropped:

And the thing with Harmison is that if he were to be discarded, I could script the next 6 months of his career:

  • Goes back to Durham.
  • Starts ok in the County Championship.
  • England win Test Series vs West Indies unconvincingly. At least one member of the Sky commentary team in the 2nd Test will bemoan the lack of Harmison.
  • Starts finding his rhythm bowling for Durham.
  • England lose 1st Ashes Test, with Harmison simultaneously taking near career best figures.
  • Harmison bowls consistently at 90+mph in a televised County 1 dayer. His actual bowling performance will be irrelevant.
  • The phrase "Harmison needs to be bowling plenty of overs to find his rhythm" will be heard, probably from Nasser Hussain.
  • England lose 2nd Ashes Test, with one member of the pace attack bowling at c. 80mph, taking match figures of 1-150.
  • Harmison is recalled for the 3rd Test. Bowls an excellent first spell, taking 2 key wickets. Rest of his match performance is average. Proclamations of Harmison being "back to his best."
  • Does little with the ball in the remaining 2 Tests, save for 2 glorious fast yorkers.
  • Bowls suprisingly well in the ODI series, largely because the Aussies are knackered from their international schedule, and still drunk from the post Ashes victory party. Sky commentary team remind us that this is why Harmison is so vital to the team.
  • Starts well, and fades in the Champions Trophy.
  • Has dreadful start in first tour game in South Africa. Goes wicketless, leaks runs at 3-4 an over. Continues dreadful form into first 2 Tests.
  • Harmison's place in England squad is again questioned.
  • Dropped for final test, amid rumours of the selectors losing patience.
With the exception of the "unconvincing" description of England's home victory over the West Indies (and I don't think anyone would have expected the Windies to have put in such a half-arsed performance), I've been more or less spot on.
 
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