England call for Holding's help

England have taken up Michael Holding's offer to help Steve Harmison iron out his wayward bowling action. Holding, who is meeting with the England bowling coach Kevin Shine today, said Harmison's trouble was "a slight kink" at his point of delivery.

"[There is] is a difference between Harmison in 2004 and Harmison in 2006," Holding told the Herald Sun. "It is a slight difference, not a major difference. He is tending to lean a bit away at the point of delivery. Instead of that front arm coming straight down the pitch it is falling away, and if it is falling towards the off side for a right-hander then the head and the top half of the body is going to follow.

"Instead of him getting everything behind the ball and following it straight down the pitch, he is going to start pushing the ball rather than bowling it and that is when you don't get your line and length perfect. I don't think it is a major problem. It is just a slight kink that he has developed over the years."

Holding said he and Shine would examine footage of Harmison at his best, compared to when he was struggling with his line and length in last week's first Test at Brisbane. "I saw the pictures in the newspapers where they had put some cones down on the ground where they are seemingly trying to get him to straighten, but I think he needs something a bit higher up," he said.

"He needs something to make sure he doesn't lean as he comes in. Perhaps they could use an inflatable doll to stand up in the crease and every time he brushes it you know he is still leaning."

But Harmison's former bowling coach Troy Cooley, now Australia's fast-bowling coach, said there was nothing fundamentally wrong with Harmison's action. "He's a big tall lanky man with all those arms and legs, so if the radar is slightly off beat it's going to be hard to pull it back," Cooley told BBC Radio. "But Harmy's action works - he's proved it works - and when he's on song, he's definitely a real handful."