STEVE Harmison cannot wait to start the season with Durham – but the England international does not want to spend the rest of the summer in the county ranks.

Harmison was at Durham’s pre-season photo call at Riverside yesterday, less than 48 hours after returning to England following a disappointing tour of the Caribbean that has once again thrown his Test future into doubt.

Having started the first two completed Tests against the West Indies, the 30-yearold was dropped from the final two five-day matches.

England return to action in less than a month, with a two-Test return series against the West Indies kicking off a hectic summer schedule that also includes the World Twenty20 and an eagerly-awaited Ashes series against Australia.

Harmison, who was named in England’s provisional World Twenty20 squad on Monday, will start the season with at least one County Championship appearance for Durham. But having played a major role in last season’s title victory, the Ashington-born paceman is hoping to spend rather less time on the county scene this season.

“Hopefully, I can do my bit for Durham at the start of the season, but I’m ambitious and I want to play for England in the Ashes,”

said Harmison, who took 61 first-class wickets for his county last summer.

“I’m looking forward to starting the season here, but hopefully I won’t see too much of Durham this year.

“Playing for Durham at the start of the season helped me last year, and it helped the last time the Ashes were over here in 2005 as well. Hopefully, that’s a good omen.

“We started well as a club in 2005, and I think that had a major impact in the way I played in the Ashes later that summer. Those Durham games at the start of the season helped us win the Ashes, and hopefully the same will apply again. I’d certainly take a repeat this summer.”

As defending county champions, Durham begin their campaign in tomorrow’s traditional preseason curtain raiser against the MCC.

Harmison will not be involved at Lord’s, with last weekend’s long-haul flight from the West Indies having left him suffering from jet lag and needing to rebuild his match fitness.

He did not do a lot of bowling during the recent one-day series, however, and could ask to be involved in next week’s three-day friendly with Durham UCCE.

Either way, the ECB announced their England player availability schedule yesterday, and Harmison has been cleared to appear in Durham’s opening Championship match of the season against Yorkshire on April 22-25.

“I’ll not be playing at Lord’s this week,” he said. “I didn’t get to sleep until about 6.30 (yesterday morning) and I’m still suffering from a bit of jet lag. My body’s not right yet, so I’m going to rest instead.

“We’ll see how the week goes as to whether I’ll be in contention for the University game or not.

“It’s been a long time away, but I’ve not played a great deal of cricket. If I’m honest, I haven’t been able to play as much as I would have liked.

“I enjoy my cricket most when I’m playing. I’ve not been enjoying my cricket very much in the last few months, but that’s because I’ve not been playing. It’s that simple. At the first available opportunity when the body is ready, I want to be back in action.”

There is nothing unusual about Harmison starting the season with a point to prove, as he has found himself in a similar position in each of the last two campaigns. On both occasions, he started strongly enough to cement a Test place for the majority of the summer.

Durham’s situation, as a club, is different, and after claiming their maiden County Championship last autumn, Geoff Cook’s side might have expected to start the new season as the doyens of the English game.

In fact, the opposite is the case, with a number of commentators writing off last year’s success as an anomaly and predicting a season of struggle as Durham attempt to claim a trophy for the third year in a row.

To some, such a flagrant lack of recognition would rankle. But to Durham, a county who only made their first-class debut 17 years ago, the underdog tag has become akin to a badge of honour.

“We might be winners,”

said Harmison. “But I still don’t think people see Durham in that light. We’re not viewed the same way as a Yorkshire, a Lancashire or a Surrey.

“People will always tend to look down on a team like Durham, who are still very new in terms of the history of the game. But we don’t mind that – in fact, we revel in it.

“We’re going to keep fighting our way, and we’re enjoying being the newcomers on the block. The lads are still hungry. We won our first trophy two years ago, then went one better and won the Championship last season. But we know there’s still further to go.”

■ Bishop Auckland company Ebac have signed as Durham’s Friends Provident Trophy and NatWest Pro 40 sponsors for the 2009 season, while Premium People Group have signed a year-long contract as the club’s County Championship partner.