Harmison is back and gunning for the West Indies

Injury is an ever-present fact of life for fast bowlers. Delivering a cricket ball in excess of 90 mph, day in, day out in a great variety of conditions takes its toll of the bowler's body. It is inevitable that something will give every now and then. For Durham and England pace bowler Stephen Harmison, a back injury at a time when he was establishing himself as a successful international spearhead was a setback. However, the quite literal addition of insult to injury made the end of 2003 a frustrating time for the 25-year-old.

He had enjoyed a successful Test series against Bangladesh, coming straight on top of a good summer at home. England needed him to take wickets at the Oval against South Africa to square the series and he responded magnificently. But then came the back injury. He returned home hoping to recover in time for the series in Sri Lanka, only to find that his back took longer than expected to respond to treatment and he then had to endure a number of comments in the media suggesting that, somehow, he lacked commitment to the national cause.

"I didn't take a great deal of notice about some of the stuff that was written about me when I was injured," he says. "It hurt me a lot not being able to be in Sri Lanka because I've always said that the place I could make my name as a fast bowler would be India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. No disrespect to Bangladesh but while the wickets might have been the same, there was nobody of the proven quality of the Jayasuriyas or Sangakkaras in the opposition there.

"That would have been the real test for me. My confidence was high, everything was going well for me at the time and it would have been a perfect stage for me to kick on my international career.

"That was what hurt - that I did not have that opportunity. The articles? No. Nobody who's worked with me would doubt my commitment. If the writers of those articles had said I wasn't very good, that's fair enough because that's their opinion. They shouldn't talk about my commitment and desire to play for England. That's totally wide of the mark. I'd like to nail that once and for all."

Right up until the time when Harmison had to prove his fitness, he was intent on joining the party for the Sri Lankan Tests. "I did have hopes of getting back out to Sri Lanka at a later stage of the tour, but the week before the fitness test when I started bowling again it was obvious that I wasn't going to be able to go.

"That meant that I could take things at a more sensible pace to get back to full fitness. It was possible that I might have been able to get out there for the second Test and I would almost certainly have been fit for the third, but conditions in Sri Lanka and England are massively different and it would have taken time to acclimatise so it was decided to hold me back for the West Indies.

"The rehab went well. It was a slow process and obviously I could take my time once the possibility of the Sri Lankan trip had gone and we knew we had time to play with it was a case of getting to the point of being able to bowl it was a case of building up slowly until reaching full power."

He has now reached that stage and is eager to prove it in the Caribbean. He has worked diligently to get back to the level of fitness required to do his job, and can even try to find benefits from his enforced lay-off in December. "I wouldn't say that I'm physically fresher than the lads who went to Sri Lanka but I might be a bit fresher mentally.

"They might be disappointed by the defeat in the last Test in Colombo having fought so hard in the other two Tests, so that might have had an effect, but the time back in England will have been long enough to charge their batteries and hopefully we can go out to win this series."

As someone who has often been compared to the tall, rangy quick bowlers who gave the West Indians an edge in world cricket for so long, Harmison should find conditions in the Caribbean very much to his liking. Having said that, there is a general perception that, with the possible exception of Jamaica, pitches have lost their fire in the region. That does not worry him too much.

"I think the fast and bouncy pitches have all gone now in the Caribbean and the wickets will be slower than they used to be there. But that will suit me and I can exploit whatever conditions I come across. I'm still quick through the air. I'm told that Sabina Park might still be a bit lively, but it doesn't really matter. At the end of the day as long as you do the preparation, work hard and put the ball in the right areas, you'll get rewards whatever the wickets you play on."

Harmison is determined to reap those rewards. "I really want to press on now," he says. "The confidence was high at the end of the Bangladesh trip. I was hoping that it was only going to be a three week break before going to Sri Lanka but now I've just got to kick on and hope to make 2004 better than 2003. Then I should have a good year. I feel as if last year was better then the one before, and every time I went onto the field for England I felt I was becoming a better bowler and a better cricketer."

Figures underline that, with 41 wickets at under 30 each in his 12 Tests to date and an economy rate of under three runs an over. Harmison gives the England attack a real cutting edge and however vaunted the West Indian batting line-up, he possesses the armoury to make sure that, just for once, it could be the locals who have to dance to the `chin music' when England tour the Caribbean.