WE scribes like a selection dilemma. It gives us an easy line, although it’s usually undermined by the coach saying: “It’s a nice problem to have.” The problem this week for Geoff Cook is whether to play Steve Harmison in the three-day match against Durham University, starting at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

Under his central contract, Harmison wasn’t supposed to be available until the championship match against Yorkshire, starting the following Wednesday. But his pleas to the England hierarchy to let him play this week have brought a positive response.

All this will strengthen the national perception that Harmison is far keener to play for Durham than for England. My own view is that he’s a wholehearted cricketer who wants to play for both, but as a home-loving lad he struggles whenever he’s abroad. This creates another selection dilemma: should England take him on tour, and if not can they select him for home Tests only?

He wants to play against the University lads, not for easy wickets (he took only one in the match against them last year) but because he’s the type of bowler who needs to keep performing to maintain any kind of rhythm and accuracy. But if Cook selects him this week, as he surely must, it will deny another opportunity to Mitch Claydon, the Australian who has mysteriously been kept on for a third season.

If Claydon’s retention is to be justified he needs opportunities to confirm that the faith shown in him is not misplaced. Reports from the pre-season tour in South Africa were that he is bowling well, but he needs to confirm that quickly, especially with Mark Davies expected to have recovered from his ankle injury in time for the Yorkshire match.