Harmison cleared for title run-in

Harmison is the only England player not to be rested by Peter Moores

Fast bowler Steve Harmison has been cleared by England coach Peter Moores to spearhead Durham's bid for the County Championship title.

Moores has told seven players to sit out the rest of the county season to keep them fresh for a hectic winter.

They include Stuart Broad of Notts and Lancashire's James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff, clubs who also harbour hopes of lifting the Championship trophy.

"You have to be selfish. You have to look after the players," said Moores.

"The risk of injury to players like Stuart Broad and James Anderson and people like that are high.

"You can see that when you have players who are fresh and are not carrying niggles like Andrew Flintoff and Harmison it makes a massive difference at international level."

606: DEBATE Is it fair to stop players playing county cricket?

Under the central contract system, Moores has the power to decide when and where contracted players can appear for their clubs.

Notts director of cricket Mick Newell said he understood why Moores had made the decision he had.

"I think it's important that England look at people individually and don't just say 'everybody plays or nobody plays'," Newell told BBC Sport.

"They've got to look at the individual workload of individual players. Stuart's played six Test matches out of seven this summer and Harmison's played one.

"So while I'm disappointed Stuart can't play, I'm not going to start jumping up and down about it because I can understand what Peter Moores is thinking."

It's important for those players involved in both the Test and ODI squads to be rested ahead of what promises to be a hectic winter England coach Peter Moores

Moores added: "I hope the counties will be understanding. We've tried all the way through my time as England coach to release players whenever we can to the counties and give them an opportunity.

"It's not just a physical but it's a mental break as well and I think it would be wrong not to give them this opportunity to freshen up and get ready to go for the winter," he said.

The decision to allow Harmison to play the remainder of the season will no doubt delight Durham.

Any one of the top eight teams in Championship Division One could still win the title and with Durham currently lying fourth in the table the availability of the fast bowler will give them an advantage over their rivals.

"It's been a gruelling summer schedule and it's important for those players involved in both the Test and ODI squads to be rested ahead of what promises to be a hectic winter," added Moores.

The £10m Stanford Twenty20 match in Antigua in November is England's next assignment, followed by a tour to India.

After a break at home over Christmas and New Year, they will then head back to the Caribbean to face the West Indies.

---

England players unavailable for the remainder of the 2008 County Championship season:
Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)
James Anderson (Lancashire)
Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
Paul Collingwood (Durham)
Alastair Cook (Essex) - except a Pro40 fixture and & Twenty20 floodlit challenge
Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire)
Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire) - due to injury

England players available for remainder of 2008 County Championship season:
Tim Ambrose (Warwickshire)
Ravi Bopara (Essex)
Stephen Harmison (Durham)
Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire)
Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire)
Matt Prior (Sussex)
Owais Shah (Middlesex)
Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)
Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire)
Luke Wright (Sussex)