DURHAM'S Stephen Harmison has spent the last 12 months helping England to three successive series wins and establishing himself as the leading bowler in the world. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson

talks to the Ashington Express about his incredible 2004.

ASK Stephen Harmison if there is anything he would change about 2004 and you would expect to be met with a stony silence.

If 1992 was the Queen's 'Annus horribilis', then the last 12 months have been Harmison's 'Annus mirabilis'.

It is difficult to imagine any sportsman enjoying a more successful spell than the 11 Test appearances the Durham paceman crammed in between March and August.

In the space of six whirlwind months, Harmison took 61 Test wickets, helped England win a record-equalling seven successive games against New Zealand and the West Indies, and rose to number one in the world rankings in the process.

Not bad at all, but there's still something Harmison felt was missing from English cricket's golden summer.

As a fervent Newcastle United fan, the 26-year-old has spent most of his county career trading insults with England colleague and self-confessed Sunderland nut Paul Collingwood.

But, with the Black Cats struggling to regain past glories, a new generation of North-Eastern football fans are needed to renew the debate in the England dressing room.

"I'm waiting for a Hartlepool or a Darlington fan to come on to the scene to give me some proper competition," joked Harmison, who has opted not to tour Zimbabwe with the England one-day squad next month.

"I just switch off when Colly starts up now because I've told him there's no way a Sunderland fan's going to have a go at me.

"He can say what he wants at the minute because it just goes straight over my head. There used to be a time when we could have a sensible argument about who ruled the roost.

"I think even Colly would admit that would be a waste of time at the moment."

Smug maybe, but if anyone can afford a certain self-satisfaction with the last 12 months it is surely Harmison.

And, ironically, it is Newcastle United that must take some of the credit for his amazing improvement in form.

This time last year, Harmison was at something of a crossroads in his career. A disastrous winter tour to Australia saw both his technique and his temperament called into question, while an inconsistent and injury-hit summer left his Test future on the line.

The Ashington-born fast bowler knew he had the armoury to succeed at the highest level, but he also accepted that his body was struggling to cope with the demands of hurling down 90mph deliveries for ten or 12 overs at a time.

In an attempt to address the problem, Harmison enlisted the help of Newcastle United fitness coach Paul Winsper and embarked on a tailor-made eight-week course designed to remedy the weaknesses in his shins and back.

The result was that, when Harmison arrived in the Caribbean in March, he did so knowing he could withstand the physical pounding that lay in wait.

"The two months I spent with Paul paved the way for everything else that followed," he said. "I trusted him and he trusted me, and we set about building my body up to a level where it would allow me to do what I wanted to do.

"He went about putting me right and it was just a case of maintaining things after that.

"It wasn't fitness work as such, but I knew that if I kept my fitness at the levels Paul had reached, everything else would fall into place.

"The work I did last winter allowed me to succeed in the art of fast bowling. I don't think I would have done it if it hadn't been for that."

The success was both instant and incredible. Harmison took a match-winning 7-12 as England won the first Test in Jamaica and followed that up with a first-innings 6-61 as Michael Vaughan's side also triumphed in Trinidad.

Ultimately, he went on to claim 23 wickets in the four Tests as the tourists won a series in the West Indies for the first time in 36 years.

"Everything I touched went well for me," said Harmison, who was barely 20 when he first toured with England A in 1998.

"I looked like I was going to get a wicket every time I bowled a ball.

"I'd had a long break before I left England and that was important. I went out there wanting a game of cricket whereas, in the past, that hasn't been the case because I've been tired after a long season.

"I've spoken to a lot of fast bowlers since the end of the series and most of them - especially the Aussies - have told me that the West Indies prepared slower wickets when they were there.

"That wasn't the case with us. Maybe they were keen to play on fast, bouncy wickets because they had (Tino) Best and (Fidel) Edwards - but I also think they under-estimated what we were capable of.

"I don't think they thought about what we could do on wickets like that and, by the time they'd realised their mistake, it was far too late.

"We exploited every condition they'd created for themselves and probably out-West-Indied the West Indies."

Success in the Caribbean was merely the start, with Harmison weighing in with 21 more wickets as England whitewashed New Zealand before taking his tally for the year past the 60-mark in a 4-0 home-series win over a by now beleaguered West Indies.

The final Test at the Brit Oval saw him claim his 100th Test scalp in only his 23rd appearance - a performance that also led to him being crowned number one bowler in the world.

"The Oval Test will stay with me forever," said Harmison. "To get to 100 wickets and help England win 7-0 in a summer was incredible.

"We just got on this amazing roll and I think only having an eight-day break between the West Indies tour and playing New Zealand helped.

"If we'd been losing we would have wanted eight weeks instead of eight days but, as it was, it meant we kept our momentum going all the way through the summer."

Unsurprisingly, the Oval Test is one of Harmison's abiding memories of the year. But another highlight was more of a low point for most of his colleagues.

June's NatWest Series defeat to New Zealand has been quickly forgotten by most who played in it but, for Harmison, taking three wickets at the Riverside meant as much as his record-breaking exploits in the Caribbean.

"Durham's fans don't get to see enough of me," he admitted. "And I'm disappointed about that.

"But I've got to be selfish about things and put my interests first and foremost at the moment.

"I went back to Durham with a spring in my step and I like to think I put on a bit of a show for the fans who have stuck by me in the past.

"Our first Test doesn't start until the end of May next year, so hopefully I'll be able to play in a couple of games for Durham before that.

"I speak to the lads all the time and, whenever you're playing in a Test match, it's a race to get off the pitch at an interval so you can get the remote control for the TV and get your county score on.

"I'm always looking how the young lads are doing and I think they'll be a lot stronger next year.

"Jon Lewis has had a bit of a thankless task as captain, but he's helped the younger players massively and you'll see the fruits of his labours over the next two or three years."

That period will also see Harmison trying to prove that the last 12 months have not been a flash in the pan. Topping 2004 will be a tough task, but the arrival of Australia next summer provides an opportunity to do just that.

"The Ashes is always the acid test of how far we've come," said Harmison. "We're under no illusions as to how hard it's going to be but we've got the ability and the mental toughness to do well. Australia know they're going to be in for one hell of a test."