The Ashes: Australia’s Ryan Harris on ‘ball of century’ to Alastair Cook and Mitchell Johnson partnership

There are some great supporting characters in history.

Not helpers. That would be disrespectful. Number two; The ones that make the stars shine a little brighter.

Brian Clough had Peter Taylor. Elton John had Bernie Taupin. Elsa had Anna.

Mitchell Johnson, the moustachioed menace who destroyed England at lightning speed, had Ryan Harris.

The 2013-14 Ashes, in which England were thrashed 5-0, will forever belong to Johnson. The left-armer was pure pyrotechnics, hitting the stumps, pads and wickets for his 37 wickets. On the other side, his new ball partner Harris was every inch his nickname ‘Rhino’; angry and cruel.

It was Johnson who walked away as an Ashes legend, but it was Harris who produced. ‘Ball of the century’ from ESPN Cricinfo, externalA physics-defying inside-out bowling England captain Alastair Cook. Kevin Pietersen described Harris as the best Australian sailor he had ever faced and competed with KP, Johnson, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.

There were many reasons why Harris never wore a baggy green hat.

His father was born in Leicester, which meant Harris could play for England. An attempt to spend time with Sussex as a local player in 2008 was unsuccessful. Prior to this, young Harris, who liked to “drink beer”, was released by South Australia but regained his state contract as a first reserve after another player rejected his contract.

With a second chance, Harris realized he could add some pace to his bowling and the move to Queensland helped him realize his potential. However, a troublesome right hamstring and schoolboy injuries while on the pitch and playing under Aussie rules would damage and eventually end his career.

He did not make his Test debut until he was 31; Just before an Australian team in transition was famously thrashed 3-1 at home by Andrew Strauss’ side in 2010-11. This remains the last time England were defeated.

“They were ruthless,” Harris told BBC Sport. “I remember going into the locker rooms during breaks and thinking, ‘What do we need to do to get these guys out?'”

While his team suffered, so did Harris, breaking his ankle in the fourth Test. Nothing compares to Johnson’s misery when his game was disrupted by the taunts of the Barmy Army. He throws left, he throws right. You know the rest.

“He was challenged for the first time in his career and the ball wasn’t going anywhere near what we wanted,” Harris says. “He started to mentally second guess himself.

“This happens when there is a lot of pressure on him. He was there to intimidate and bowl quickly but he didn’t quite manage to do that.”

Harris’ next move to England in 2013 was equally problematic for Australia.

A chaotic build-up, including homework arguments and David Warner punching Joe Root in a Birmingham pub, resulted in Mickey Arthur being replaced by Darren Lehmann as head coach.

“Boof had a big meeting about how we should all be involved in this,” Harris says. “We had team values ​​that Mickey set, ‘I’ll do this, I’ll do that.’ Boof turned that around. He changed ‘I’ to ‘We.’ It was all about us being together.”

Australia found themselves 2-0 down but could have won the last three Tests before losing the series 3-0. There was an immediate comeback series in Australia and Harris felt the shift in momentum.

“When you look at it on paper, this is one of the worst outcomes, but we thought it was much closer than that,” he says.

“When we got back on the plane we left really hungry and we saw this as a great opportunity as we knew we would come back right away.”