Harmy lays in to New Road surface (From Evesham Journal)

Harmy lays in to New Road surface

8:30am Monday 6th July 2009

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THE New Road pitch has come in for some criticism this term with the latest being England Ashes hopeful Steve Harmison.

Of course, Worcestershire’s headquarters has been slower and lower this season, if you have been a regular over the past few years then you will have noticed that.

Yet the Durham pace ace was still able to clock more than 93mph, take four wickets and help restrict the touring Australians to 358 in their first innings.

One of his hopeful Ashes adversaries, Brett Lee, was clocking 95mph and claimed his first five-wicket haul in England.

So how bad is the wicket at Worcestershire? Looking at those facts and figures, it’s not bad at all.

“The pitch was poor for everybody,” Harmison claimed. “The Aussies are not going to get any practice on that.

“I said to Mike Hussey when he was on 70 or 80, ‘this is no good to you lot. The ball is soft, you can’t hit it off the square’.

“It is what you would call a chief executive’s pitch because it is built to last.”

Yes, New Road has had a reputation for being a seamers’ wicket, but it didn’t seem to slow two of the world’s fastest bowlers too much.

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