WELL, I did observe in this column a few weeks ago that it would be interesting to see how Stephen Harmison fared in the West Indies.

There was a slight implication perhaps that he might find it a little tougher than in Bangladesh, where his five for 35 were his best Test figures.

Judging by some of the comments leaking out of the subsequent trip to Sri Lanka, which he missed through injury, there were doubts whether Harmison would ever improve those figures. So mine would not be the only jaw to hit the deck when in his very next Test he took seven for 12 to etch his name in Sabina Park immortality.

England coach Duncan Fletcher is evidently pretty hot on psychology and recognised that Harmison could be fired up by criticism. I've seen it myself after suggesting that a spell in Durham seconds wouldn't do him any harm.

Fletcher held back on renewing the England contract Harmison had last year and deliberately let the national press know in Sri Lanka that he suspected the Ashington Express of shirking. He probably didn't suspect it at all, but when it appeared in the papers it had the desired effect.

Never mind the headlines about his fitness work with his beloved Newcastle United. Harmison also spent a lot of time with England Academy experts at Loughborough while recovering from his injury, and the fact that he has also reached physical maturity at 25 is another factor in everything suddenly coming right for him.

Having watched his roller-coaster development closely since his Durham debut at 17, I have to say there have been times when he didn't look capable of taking seven wickets against Percy Main thirds.

The potential was always clear and in his first two full seasons he did remarkably well for one so raw. But for three years prior to last summer he had sprayed the ball around as though firing a scattergun.

He tended to bristle at suggestions that he might sacrifice a little bit of pace in the search for more accuracy, but with Sabina Park helping the bounce which is his deadliest weapon he took his seven wickets bowling generally at 86mph instead of the 92-93 of which he is capable.

Not all West Indian tracks are so bouncy these days, so there could still be some tough days ahead. But whatever happens in the future the name of Harmison is right up there among the bowlers who have produced Test cricket's greatest feats. Like Jonny Wilkinson, may he inspire lots of North-East lads to try to emulate him.

WHAT wonderful scenes yesterday as Best Mate clinched his Gold Cup hat-trick and the odd couple of racing - the plummy Henrietta Knight and the earthy Terry Biddlecombe - ran to embrace each other.

It's good to know that no amount of tacky tabloid sensationalism about corruption could dampen the regulars' enthusiasm as the Cheltenham casino was in full and glorious swing as usual at festival time.

On-line betting, of course, means there are even more opportunities for wagers on the nags which attract huge crowds to the highlight of the National Hunt season. And more incentive to cheat.

But who cares? It's almost as though the punters expect a bit of corruption to spice things up. The real scandal is that an unscrupulous organ like the News of the World should try to take the moral high ground after setting up its stings to expose relatively harmless people like Kieren Fallon. "The Fixer" they called him in a massive headline, but where was the evidence?

They did the same to Lawrence Dallaglio a few years ago, and while it cost him the England rugby captaincy for a while thankfully it hasn't done him any lasting damage.

THE very fact that George Reynolds had to borrow money from the Sterling Consortium at 15 per cent interest to complete his arena explodes the myth about his vast wealth.

Perhaps things went belly-up for him after he promised to build the stadium, but had people not believed he would finance it out of his own pocket it would have made no sense to grant him planning permission.

How can you finance a £4m loan at 15 per cent on Darlington's average crowds? The answer to that still lies somewhere over the rainbow and without a genuine sugar daddy or frequent Boyzone and Westlife concerts Darlington's future will continue to look bleak.

WHERE were the goalposts when Rio Ferdinand's appeal began yesterday? In the same place as for athletes who are handed two-year bans for having banned substances in their system, or for tennis players who get off scot free?

Somewhere inbetween probably, as Rio had already accepted by serving part of the eight-month ban. There is no proof, of course, that he took anything illegal. He was simply stupid and has already suffered enough, while the clear warning has gone out to potential transgressors in football. I suspect we haven't heard the last of this, nor of the tennis escapees.

Published: 19/03/2004