'They were selfish characters' – England's Steven Harmison makes bold claims about ex-teammates

Former England pacer Steve Harmison made headlines following his latest remarks on ex-captains Naseer Hussain and Michael Atherton by calling them selfish characters. Talking on SEN Radio, Harmison, in response to Jason Gillespie’s comments on how England played as a unit in the 2005 Ashes – something, as an Australian he had never seen before, Harmison took jibes at those two stalwarts.

Though for countless reasons, the 2005Ashes remain the greatest modern-day Test series to date, Harmison said had it not been about playing for them and instead for the country, England would have tasted success earlier as well.

Meanwhile, not only Hussain and Atherton,the two top-order batters, who attained tremendous success in their career, Harmison also mentioned a few names, citing that since they didn't play for the team, England's Test side had to bear the brunt for those results.

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Gillespie’s assessment of England’s culture during the early 2000s and how it suddenly changed during the 2005Ashes stated, “I noticed a big difference in the England side in the 2005 Ashes… we’d never felt that as an Australian side before,” Gillespie told ‘Sen Radio’ on Thursday,

“England would normally go out in dribs or drabs going onto the field… (but this time) it was really noticeable that as soon as the umpires walked out there, (England skipper) Michael Vaughan was straight out there, everyone was straight out there, quick chat and then they would literally run to their fielding positions, the bowler would run and hand his cap to the umpire and before our batters were halfway onto the ground, the whole England team was set up ready to play, ready to rock,” the former Aussie seamer added.

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We had a lot of selfish characters playing for England - Steve

Harmison, who played 44 Tests and was a core member of the bowling unit from 2000 to at least until the 2005 Ashes, revealed, “We’d grown up as a team, we played as a team and we behaved off the field like a team (in 2005). In 1997, 2001, 2003/04, you had a lot of selfish characters playing for England.”

Specifically mentioning those names, Harmison said, “Some great cricketers, don’t get me wrong… but when you look at — and I’ve got no problem saying this — the likes of Nasser (Hussain), Athers (Michael Atherton), Thorpey (Graham Thorpe), Corkey (Dominic Cork), Darren Gough, Andy Caddick, there was a group of individuals playing altogether as a team where you look at 2005, we were a team.”

Talking about the Australian team that since the mid-90s took the world by storm, and despite them having differences as well, they never let the opposition get onto them, Harmison told Gillespie,

“Looking at (the Australian team), your boys were a team. You might have had some differences, but we never picked up once (on any of them),” Harmison added.

Meanwhile, the 2023 Ashes are about to begin in the UK, with the first Test scheduled to start on June 16in Edgbaston.

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