Next year sees England take on Australia - it's the best chance England have had of winning back the Ashes for over 20 years and Steve Harmison is a bowler the Aussies fear, as Ahmer Khokhar discovered.

England bowling coach Troy Cooley is the latest in a growing list of Australians to join the Steve Harmison fan club.

Cooley, a former Australian Academy coach now attached to the England camp, admits it is hard to believe the Harmison of 2004 is the same bowler who sent down 16 wides on the opening match of the 2002 Ashes tour.

"Steve was all over the place then," Cooley said.

"We worked on strength issues. We worked on the big levers, which Steve was having trouble in controlling.

"His front-arm was a problem. He has a semi-open action and while his legs were heading towards the target, his front arm was not.

"He was side-on at the top of his body, but no so in the bottom half. Thus the occasional ball went wide because his weight was being thrown towards fine leg."

Ashington-born Harmison became the No 1 bowler in the world until recently toppled, and according to Cooley he has also discovered the self-belief that was missing two years ago.

"He is a great bloke, a real character," Cooley said.

"You know Harmy is right at home sitting in a bar at Ashington having a beer with his dad and his mates.

"He is a good guy and his great improvement and progress is a credit to him."

Harmison has been in the form of his life in the past 12 months for England.

Bowling with genuine pace and accuracy, he tore through Bangladesh last winter before breaking down with a back injury and missing Sri Lanka.

But after training with his beloved Newcastle United, he returned fitter and stronger than ever.

He took a career-best seven for 12 against the West Indies in the Caribbean, the best analysis recorded at Sabina Park in Jamaica, and a match-winning six for 46 against the same opponents at The Oval last August.

England have not won the Ashes since Mike Gatting's team retained the urn Down Under in 1986-87.

But the most successful new ball combination in Australian history, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, are expecting Harmison to make the 2005 Ashes series the closest for years.

"Steve Harmison has done very well for England in the past 12 months," Gillespie said.

"He is already a very good bowler but I think that playing against Australia is a different proposition to playing against the other teams in world cricket.

"Our batsmen will target Harmison and whoever wins that battle could decide the outcome of the series."

Despite Harmison failing to hit the heights in the first Test last week, McGrath agrees.

The lanky Australian is the most accurate fast bowler in the world and warns that Australia's batsmen will implement a special game plan to deal with the Harmison threat.

"We will be watching Harmison against South Africa and have a game plan against him for the Ashes," McGrath said.

"The margin of error against a guy in form is pretty small but hopefully we'll be on song against him next year."

Former Australia captain Greg Chappell is convinced that Harmison has made England's bowling attack the strongest it has been since the halcyon days of Ian Botham and Bob Willis in the early 1980s.

Chappell - the only man to score a hundred in his first and last Tests for Australia - expects Michael Vaughan's team to put up more of a fight than in recent Ashes series.

With Harmison leading the home side's assault, Chappell believes England could have the firepower to challenge Australia's domination.

"England have not had a lot of competition in the series they've won in recent times, but they're on the right track," Chappell said.

"With Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff, potentially their bowling is excellent, the next best attack to Australia, and they might be pushing Australia as the best. We'll find out in England next year.

"They've got two or three very exciting players in their Test and one-day sides.

"Harmison is an exceedingly good bowler. His big test will be next summer.

"England will win the Ashes again but I don't think it will be in 2005."