THE enigma that is Steve Harmison went from the ridiculous to the sublime yesterday as for the second successive innings he impressed an England selector with a five-wicket haul.

In front of Ashley Giles, he reinforced the impression that he is building to a peak for the Ashes as he rekindled Durham’s hopes of enforcing the follow-on against Warwickshire.

A questionable decision to rest him intervened before he returned to take his last two wickets, finishing with five for 39, as Warwickshire closed on 264 for nine, 20 short of the follow- on target.

He had a poor start to the day, didn’t bowl in the afternoon, when he was off the field for a while, then returned after tea to defy the placid pitch with a spell of real hostility.

In four overs Harmison knocked the stuffing out of the hosts’ middle order, removing Jonathan Trott, Jim Troughton and Tim Ambrose as Warwickshire collapsed from 46 for one to 212 for seven.

At that point they still needed 72 to avoid following on, but the decision to rest Harmison with the new ball five overs away almost backfired.

Dale Benkenstein was involved and it seemed a wise move, but by relaxing the pressure Durham allowed Ant Botha and Chris Woakes to get into their stride against the struggling Gareth Breese.

The result was that when the new ball was taken Woakes cover drove Graham Onions for three fours in the first over, while Harmison needed an over to loosen up.

In his second he struck Woakes on the arm, and after lengthy treatment the youngster fended the next ball to third slip, where Callum Thorp held a good catch to end the stand of 41. Finally, Jonteep Patel edged to Breese at first slip, but the same fielder missed a low chance offered by Boyd Rankin off Onions in the day’s last over.

“It was my decision to rest,”

said Harmison, pictured below. “Callum Thorp had a sore side, otherwise I’d have kept going and he could have come on when I got tired. We had to be a bit smart. We knew we had to take the new ball because the follow-on is crucial.

“On flat pitches like this you have to do something different.

You have to be more aggressive and I used my experience in deciding when to bowl bouncers and when to sit in.

That combination worked well for me and I was happy with my decision making.

“I didn’t bowl in the afternoon because Ian Blackwell was using the wind and looking dangerous.

I wanted to keep something in the tank so that if we did get the breakthrough I could capitalise.

I got the chance and I took it.”

With the old ball Harmison breached Trott’s forward defence with one which straightened off the pitch to hit the top of off stump, then Troughton gloved a catch to third slip.

With a leg gully posted, Harmison then fired one in at Ambrose’s hip and the wicketkeeper shaped to pull but merely lobbed the ball straight up for Phil Mustard to take the catch.

In the morning Harmison coyly raised his bat to acknowledge his team-mates’ applause when he scored his first run in five innings – a single through the gully area – but then got out to the next ball he faced.

Attempting a reverse sweep, he hit it straight into the hands of Ian Bell at leg gully, and Durham were all out for 433, having added 30 runs in 30 minutes.

Harmison’s second ball then flew so far down the leg side it evoked memories of the first ball of the 2007 Ashes series.

His radar was not quite as he would have liked it in his first four overs, but then he began to pose a real threat and was unlucky not to be rewarded as Warwickshire reached 56 for one at lunch.

After Onions knocked out Warwickshire skipper Ian Westwood’s middle stump in the fifth over, Bell survived a sticky start, which included being hit on the hand on nought by a brute of a ball from Harmison.

The paceman also struck the bespectacled Tony Frost, but other than checking his glasses were intact, the opener seemed unperturbed as he and Bell shared a stand of 129.

It was Benkenstein who made the breakthrough, having Frost caught at slip for 56 by Breese, whose five overs of off spin had proved costly.

Bell played immaculately for 79, but Blackwell’s left-arm spin always commanded respect and he had his reward when Bell played back and edged the turning ball straight to Michael Di Venuto.

Earlier Blackwell included a big six wide of long-on off Jeentap Patel in the 19 runs he added before he was bowled for 158 by Boyd Rankin.

Scoreboard

Warwickshire v Durham At Edgbaston

Overnight: Durham 322-6 (I D Blackwell 107 no).

Durham First Innings

M D Stoneman c Rankin b Woakes .......64

I D Blackwell b Rankin .......................158

C D Thorp st Ambrose b Patel ............... 7

G Onions not out ............................... 1

S J Harmison c Bell b Patel ................... 1

Extras (b13 lb11 w8 nb4 pens 0) 36

Total (125 overs)..................433

Fall: 1-31 2-97 3-114 4-120 5-206 6-304

7-397 8-420 9-430

Woakes 32-7-105-4. Rankin 24-5-68-1.

Carter 23-5-90-2. Patel 33-2-112-3. Trott 1- 1-0-0. Botha 12-2-34-0.

Warwickshire First Innings Close

I J Westwood b Onions ....................... 8

T Frost c Breese b Benkenstein ...........56

R Bell c Di Venuto b Blackwell ..............79

J Trott b S J Harmison ........................25

J O Troughton c Muchall b S J Harmison .16

T R Ambrose c Mustard b S J Harmison ...10

A G Botha not out ...............................20

N M Carter lbw b Blackwell .................. 0

C R Woakes c Thorp b S J Harmison ...24

J S Patel c Breese b S J Harmison ........ 6

W B Rankin not out ....................... 4

Extras (b1 lb10 w5 pens 0)..........16

Total 9 wkts (87 overs)........264

Fall: 1-17 2-146 3-168 4-197 5-200 6-211 7-212 8-253 9-259

Bonus Pts: Warwickshire 3 Durham 5 Onions 20-2-82-1. S J Harmison 17-5-39-5.

Thorp 11-2-25-0. Blackwell 25-7-47-2.

Breese 9-2-43-0. Benkenstein 5-1-17-1.