Former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, whose destructive style of batting struck fear in the bowlers’ minds, was scared of facing former English fast bowler Steve Harmison. In the latest episode of Club Prairie Fire podcast, Gilchrist admitted not liking facing Harmison in spite of batting at a strike rate of 120 against him at the highest level.
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Be it former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan in ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 final or former Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in the subsequent World Cup final, Gilchrist seldom used to spare anyone. Interestingly, he even took Harmison to the cleaners enroute a 57-ball century, second fastest in Test cricket at the time, during the third Ashes 2006 match in Perth.
Even though the host, Gilchrist, former Australian batter and head coach Darren Lehmann and former English captain Michael Vaughan weren’t discussing Harmison per se, he was brought into the picture briefly when they highlighted English all-rounder Sam Curran registering the worst ODI bowling figures for an Englishman.
Bowling with a new ball, the left-arm pacer leaked 98 runs in the 9.5 overs that he bowled in the first match against West Indies in North Sound on Sunday. With bowling figures of 10-0-97-0 against Sri Lanka in Leeds, Harmison held that infamous record for over 17 years.
Explaining how Sri Lanka chased down a 322-run target in the 38th over, Vaughan recalled former Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya smashing Harmison to all corners of Headingley. Just around then, a stunned Gilchrist intervened.
“That’s a good effort. I didn’t like facing him [Steve Harmison]. He was horrible”, Gilchrist said on Club Prairie Fire.
Readers must note that Gilchrist had scored 228 (190) with the help of 33 fours across 13 Test and five ODI innings against Harmison. The right-arm bowler, in return, had dismissed Gilchrist four times across formats.
Much Like Adam Gilchrist, Even Sanath Jayasuriya Had Dominated Steve Harmison In 2006
For the unversed, the above mentioned contest was the fifth ODI of Sri Lanka’s tour of England 2006. With both the Sri Lankan openers in Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga scoring magnificent individual centuries in a 191-ball 286-run match-winning stand, the visitors had thumped the hosts 5-0 to whitewash them for the third time in the format (first away from home).
Furthermore, it is to be noted that 40 out of the 97 runs Harmison conceded were because of a merciless Jayasuriya. An absolute source of amazement at the time, it was the sixth highest ODI run-chase bck then. Third-highest run-scorer and fourth-highest wicket-taker in the series, Jayasuriya was adjudged both the Player of the Match and Player of the Series.
All in all, Jayasuriya and Harmison faced off against each other for a total of nine times in international cricket. The left-handed batter’s 141 runs came at an average of 47 and a strike rate of 110.15 including 18 fours and three sixes at the cost of three dismissals.
