Some excellent supporting characters exist in history.
Not sidekicks. That would be disrespectful. The number twos – those who make the stars shine that little bit brighter.
Peter Taylor was present for Brian Clough. Elton John had Bernie Taupin. Anna was in Elsa’s possession.
Mitchell Johnson, the moustachioed menace who destroyed England at the speed of light, had Ryan Harris.
Johnson will always be in charge of the 2013-14 Ashes, which featured England losing 5-0. The left-armer was pure pyrotechnics, battering stumps, pads and helmets, for his 37 wickets. On the other end, Harris, the new ball player, was relentless and rampaging, just like his “Rhino” nickname.
It was Johnson who walked away as an Ashes legend, but Harris who produced ESPN Cricinfo’s ‘ ball of the century’, a physics-defying in-outer to bowl England captain Alastair Cook. Harris was compared to Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, and Kevin Pietersen as the best Australian seamer he’s ever faced.
There were plenty of reasons why Harris might never have pulled on a baggy green cap.
Harris could have represented England because his father was born in Leicester. An attempt to spend time with Sussex as a local player in 2008 was aborted. A younger Harris who liked “drinking beers” was then fired by South Australia, only to have his state contract as a first reserve when a different player turned down their offer.
With a second chance, Harris realised he could add some pace to his bowling, and a move to Queensland helped fulfil his potential. A troublesome right knee, a hangover from field injuries sustained while playing Aussie football, and more would eventually end his career.
He did not make his Test debut until the age of 31 – just before an Australia side in transition was famously humbled 3-1 on home soil in 2010-11 by Andrew Strauss ‘ team. The last time England has won down under is still here.
“They were just relentless”, Harris tells BBC Sport. I just recall entering changing rooms during breaks and asking, “What must we do to get these blokes out?”
As his team suffered, so too did Harris, breaking his ankle in the fourth Test. Nothing can compare to Johnson’s agony, whose game disintegrated amid a barmy army soundtrack of tidbits. He bowls to the left, he bowls to the right. The rest is known to you.
“For the first time in his career he was challenged and the ball wasn’t coming out anywhere near what we would have liked”, says Harris. He began to doubt himself mentally.
” That happens when there is so much pressure on. He tried to intimidate and bowl quickly, but he couldn’t quite get that.
Harris ‘ next crack at the English, in 2013, was just as problematic for Australia.
Mickey Arthur was replaced as head coach by Darren Lehmann after a chaotic build-up, which included disagreements over homework and David Warner punching Joe Root in a Birmingham bar.
” Boof had a massive meeting about how we all have to be in it together, “says Harris”. Mickey had formulated “I will do this, I will do that,” which we had team values. Boof flipped that. He changed the letter “I” to “We.” It was all about us being together. “
Australia were 2-0 up, but they could have won the series 3-0 before falling to Australia. There was a return series in Australia straight away, and Harris sensed the shift in momentum.
We thought it was much closer than that, he says, but you look at it on paper and it’s one of the worst outcomes.
The other reason for Australian optimism was Johnson. He participated in the one-dayers that followed, not the Test series in the UK. Johnson 2.0 was bowling rockets and unsettling England batters.
We talked a lot about it, Harris says. England knew what they were coming back against.
“We perused the video,” he said. Seeing the way he was, we knew there might be a bit of a chink in their armour and it planted a pretty big seed for us for what to expect on our wickets”.
Michael Clarke, the captain of Australia, was aware of this. “It wouldn’t surprise me in a couple of months ‘ time to see Mitch]Johnson] being man of the series”, Clarke said before the first Test.
After three years without winning, Clarke assembled his pace attack of Johnson, Harris, and Peter Siddle, who had been unable to play Australia’s opener against England.
“Michael Clarke pulled the fast bowlers aside”, says Harris.
You guys will win this for us, he said. We’re going to target Cookie, make sure he’s not getting off to a good start’.
Mitchell followed our every move for each batter until he performed what he did.
In the first Test in Brisbane, it was Harris who sparked England’s first-innings collapse from 82-2 to 136 all out. Johnson took five in the second inning as the visitors were hit hard and unprepared for the aggression they faced.
Facing up to Johnson, England number 11 James Anderson exchanged words with short-leg fielder George Bailey. Clarke intervened and was able to speak on the stump mic while advising Anderson to “get ready” for a broken arm.
” That surprised a few of the players as well, “says Harris”. Jimmy occasionally got under the skin of the majority of the team because he was vocal around the team, not necessarily to the opposition players.
“We wanted to play that way. We had a plan to be aggressive, but we didn’t want to be violent.
” When we heard the words Michael said we all thought ‘ ooohhh, that’s cool’. We were aware of his involvement, but it surprised us a little bit. It was like ‘ right, we’re on here’. “
Harris did not believe Australia were “definitely on top” despite leading English lambs to slaughter at the Gabbatoir and with England’s third tour departure, Jonathan Trott. After all, Australia had only just notched a second Ashes Test win in 11 attempts.
The Johnson juggernaut would not be stopped, was unquestionable evidence in the second Test in Adelaide. A first-innings 7-40, including a burst of 5-16 in five overs, flattened England – including debutant Ben Stokes – once more.
Johnson was carving his terrifying redemption three years after being publicly humiliated, with Harris one of the few people to witness both sides of the story.
” What happened in 2010-11, it hurt him and it did get to him, “says Harris”. He would now claim that anyone who spoke to him would get a kick out of him because he was so fiery and intense.
“He had a big break that made him realise cricket wasn’t the only thing. He had a young daughter, had business interests, and liked cars. He worked out that putting everything into cricket wasn’t healthy for him. He returned feeling refreshed.
” The bowlers in 2013-14, we were really tight, and we still are. We did a lot of talking cricket together, but we didn’t talk about it all the time. When it came to the cricket stuff, we communicated so well. It almost resembled a team within a team. We were so focussed on what we had to do.
- October 27
- October 20
In Perth, with the opportunity to win back the Ashes at the earliest opportunity, Australia were dismantling England once more. A home team that had last won the urn more than six years ago was jittery about their obvious superiority despite their obvious superiority.
“I couldn’t sleep, so got up early, and went down to the team room at about 5: 30am thinking I’d get an early coffee”, says Harris.
Because the players were also extremely anxious, there were seven or eight of them.
For Harris, the career-high of an Ashes win would come with the delivery for which he will always be remembered.
England had a notional 504.-innings target after Bailey clobbered 28 from one Anderson over. Cook took strike, Harris had the ball. From the first ball of the innings, the outcome was almost sorcery-like.
Harris presented a seam as upright as a King’s Guard. Landing just before a crack that zig-zagged down the Waca pitch, Cook made his first pitch. From a leg-stump line, the ball appeared to then move in the air in the opposite direction, past Cook’s crooked grope to kiss the top of off stump.
Cook was left with a confused, defeated mindset, with both feet facing the pitch. Harris was off on a celebration run that would have ended in the Swan River, had he not been mobbed by his team-mates.
Harris claims that “my body was a little hurting.” “I was running into bowl and halfway through the voice in my head said ‘ stop’. I abstained. I don’t know why I didn’t.
“The ball came out, and it just felt good,” the statement read. The rest is history. “
The night before returning to the Waca, where he is currently leading his team against Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield, Harris, the head coach of South Australia, is speaking from Perth.
” I came here last year and the guys I coach gave me a bit of stick about it, “he says”. I placed a ball where it appeared to have pitched. They enjoyed that.
“My little boy has seen it with his classmates. He has no clue. What people want to call it, “Ball of the Century.” That was my job and it’s what I was trying to do”.
After being denied entry to the Crown Casino, Harris had to apologize for a drunken tweet sent at Shane Warne’s villa. It was a minuscule problem compared to what England were going through.
In the fourth Test in Melbourne, Graeme Swann retired and the visitors were Johnsoned once more.
Harris saved his best, of the series and his career, for the final rout of a broken England in Sydney. His 9-106 match results included Boyd Rankin’s advantage, which brought the score to 5-1. Johnson and Harris took 59 wickets between them, pretty much bowling out England six times as a partnership.
According to Harris, “It was all about the Mitchell factor, the pace he bowled at, and the way he took wickets.”
“I’m sure there was some sort of fear in ‘ how are we going to play Mitchell Johnson, when he’s bowling that way? ” ” .
Harris didn’t end up there. Two months later he was bowling Australia to a superb away series victory over a powerful South Africa. Harris was unable to walk in the decisive third Test, but his seven wickets secured a thrilling victory.
He underwent knee surgery immediately and returned for the following home summer to play three Tests against India. Battling to return to full fitness, he was a part of the Australian squad for the 2015 Ashes series in the UK.
” I was bowling in a warm-up match at Kent and I had a click in my knee that felt different, “says Harris”. I returned and did a good job of bowling.
“I had a scan after the game. My tibia’s top had been cracked.
Faced with retirement and missing out on one more Ashes dance, Harris was a “blubbering mess”. He was considering more surgery in an effort to advance his career despite yet another devastating injury setback.
At the very end, Harris ‘ old mates and comrades Johnson and Siddle were there for him.
Mitch and Pete sat down with Harris and said, “I reckon I can do it again.”
“I used to have to take so much medication and Mitch said ‘ I’ve seen what you have to take to be able to play, you can’t keep doing that because it will rip your stomach apart’. The same thing happened to Pete.
” That’s how close we were. We shared a deep respect for one another. They saw the fluid being taken out of my knee, how painful it was. They were able to see the scans.
“I had a bit more of a think, spoke to my wife, my brother and my dad, and I had to pull the pin”.
Of Harris’ 27 Test caps, 12 were won in Ashes matches. Half of his Test wickets were England batters.
Harris has the third-best average out of bowlers who have made their debuts since 1900 and have taken at least 50 Ashes wickets. Using the same criteria, his strike-rate is only bettered by Johnson.
The dream was to play Ashes cricket, Harris says.
“Yes, I’d loved to have played more Tests, but I timed it right – when I wasn’t injured it was for an Ashes series.
The Ashes: Australia v England
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- Insight: In-depth stories from the world of sport
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- The Ashes
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- 16 August
