Enthralling Spells of fast bowling - Steve Harmison vs West Indies, Kingston, 2004

In 2004, England toured the West Indies for a 4 match test and 7 match ODI series. After a couple of tour games, they took on West Indies in the first test at Kingston, Jamaica. Winning the toss and batting first, the hosts scored 311 as Devon Smith scored a century. England responded with 339 while no batsman scored more than 58 in their innings. The match was evenly poised but what happened next left everyone bewildered.

West Indies started steadily and did not lose any wicket till the seventh over. Then Chris Gayle slashed at wide Steve Harmison delivery and was caught at third slip by Graham Thorpe. Soon Ramnaresh Sarwan, on a pair, was out leg before without scoring and 13-0 suddenly became 13-2. Shivnarine Chanderpaul trying to fend off a short pitched ball turned back to find that the ball had rolled to the wicket and a bail was down- West Indies was in total disarray at 15-3.

In walked the skipper Brian Lara, the wizard, possibly the only man who could save West Indies that day. Matthew Hoggard soon removed Lara who edged one to the slips. Devon Smith who was patiently watching the procession at the other end, tried an on drive and was caught Hoggard off his own bowling. In the 15th over, West Indies had lost half their side with a score of 21 - Hoggard taking 2 and Harmison 3 wickets respectively.

Ryan Hinds and Ridley Jacobs looked as if they would stem the rot and added 20 runs together. The score became 41-5 and Harmison surprised Jacobs with a short delivery which was meekly fended to a waiting short leg. Two balls later, Chris Read took his first catch of the match as Tino Best managed to only make contact with a short ball already on the way to the hands of the keeper. Then, England had seven men waiting in the slip cordon and surprisingly Graham Thorpe dropped Adam Sanford at third slip. As Ryan Hinds was removed by Simon Jones from the other end, Harmison ensured Sanford and the last man Fidel Edwards did not last long, forcing both to edge to slips. West Indies were all out for a mere 40 runs and England took just 11 minutes to score the 20 runs they needed to win.

Needless to say, Steve Harmison was declared man of the match for his figures of 12.3-8-12-7. With his towering height and a peculiar action, he got his majority of his wickets with the short and back-of- a-length deliveries outside off. He almost single handedly turned a very even test match in England's favor and his entire spell in which he bowled all his overs without changing was fascinating to watch.