Flower issues Harmison challenge

Steve Harmison has been urged to demonstrate he is worthy of an England recall

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Assistant coach Andy Flower believes Steve Harmison still has much to offer England - but has challenged him to prove it.

The pace bowler is fighting to reclaim his place in the side for the final Test against West Indies in Trinidad, having been dropped for the drawn fourth Test in Barbados.

England must win at Queen’s Park to salvage a 1-1 series draw, although to do so they must take 20 wickets for the first time this winter.

Having been overlooked at the Kensington Oval, Harmison will get two net sessions over the next couple of days to persuade the team management he is worthy of a recall.

Flower said: “He has been a really good performer for England - he has 217 Test wickets and has done some really good things.

“I don’t think by any means that Steve’s finished. He’s still got a hell of a lot to offer.

“If hard work is just a base that you start with, that’s what he’s doing at the moment. But for you to be a successful international cricketer you have to be very hungry.

“I’ve only known Steve a little while, and we are still getting to know each other better now. Only he knows how hungry he is to carry on the hard yakka of a fast bowler’s life.

“I think he still wants to do it. He’s proud of his career and proud to play for England.”

Following an impressive return to international cricket as England beat South Africa at the Brit Oval last August, Harmison began the Test winter by playing against India in Chennai, but has since been dropped on three occasions.

Harmison celebrates one of the five wickets he has taken in his last three appearances

He has taken only five wickets in his last three Tests, and has been challenged by the team management to prove is capable of reproducing the pace and hostility which shot him to the top of the world rankings when England last toured the Caribbean five years ago.

“At the moment he hasn’t, otherwise he would have done it,” added Flower. “Fast bowling is long, hard work, and at the age of 30 it is only going to get harder work, so it is up to Steve really.

“He has got to put in the performances which make the selectors pick him time and time again.”

Left-armer Ryan Sidebottom was preferred to Harmison in Bridgetown, despite a persistent Achilles injury which flared up again towards the end of the contest.

England will monitor his fitness ahead of the fifth Test, which starts on Friday, and all the bowlers will be hoping for a more responsive surface in Trinidad than those which greeted them in the previous two matches.

Though the tourists came within one wicket of levelling the series in Antigua, they were unable to force a result on a pitch which saw 1,628 runs and yielded only 17 wickets over five days in Barbados.

“Both those last pitches were quite hard to winkle people out on, so it is a bit frustrating,” Flower admitted.

“We hope that the Trinidad pitch does a bit and makes for more interesting cricket, let alone provide the chance for one of the sides to win.”

One confirmed change will be behind the stumps, where Matt Prior returns from paternity leave to displace Tim Ambrose, who made an unbeaten 76 last week.