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How to tune into Sport Nation“I let you down”: Harmison reflects on famous 06/07 Ashes first ball
SEN • October 17th, 2025 8:42 am
The 2006/07 Ashes series was one remembered for Australian dominance.
The Aussies won 5-0 as England couldn’t replicate their 2005 series victory at home, and it appeared over just as it started, getting off on the back foot at the Gabba from the first ball.
That first delivery of the series was bowled by English quick Steven Harmison, with Justin Langer on strike.
Instead of troubling the left-hander with a ball to be defended, Harmison let the Kookaburra fly all the way to captain Andrew Flintoff’s hands in second slip.
The enormous wide has gone down in cricketing folklore with the moment emblematic of a disastrous campaign by the visitors.
Looking back on that famous delivery, Harmison – who took 226 Test wickets - admits he was nowhere near prepared for that first ball, let alone the series after missing a month of cricket in the lead-up.
“Well, the one I bowled, I think it started off in Brisbane and ended up in Sydney, that’s where the story has gone,” Harmison told SENQ Breakfast.
“It’s obviously very nerve-wracking. You’ve got to be ready.
“You talk about preparation. I was nowhere near prepared in 2006.
“I did an hour-long Q&A for Talksport this week with Andrew Flintoff, who was captain and my teammate for the best part of 15 years, and I apologised, not to him, but I felt as though in that series I wasn’t ready and that ‘I let you down’.
“I missed a month's cricket before it, and that first ball I wasn’t prepared for. Not just the series, but even for the first ball.
“He looked at me, and he said, ‘I knew you weren't ready’, and he said, ‘I probably should have taken that first over’, because of the magnitude and what it means.”
While that first ball of the series is always a nervy one for whoever gets handed the new rock, Harmison can’t see it affecting Jofra Archer if he is given the honour this series in Perth.
“It will be nerve-wracking, it will be difficult, but I tell you what, if there's anybody in world cricket who could probably handle that, it’s the guy from Barbados,” Harmison said.
“It will be Jofra Archer because he's just got ice in his veins, and I'm sure he'll be ready if Ben Stokes wins the toss, decides to bowl first and throws the ball to Archer.
“I’ve got a funny feeling that'll be closer to off stump than mine went. It’s a thing I think Jofra Archer will relish.”
Australia’s Mitchell Starc had quite a different experience with the first ball of the Ashes in the 2021/22 series, skittling English opener Rory Burns with the opening delivery in Brisbane.
The first Test between Australia and England begins on November 21 at Optus Stadium. Catch every ball of the Ashes on SEN - your home of cricket.
