Steve Harmison keen on England selector's job

Former England pacer Steve Harmison said that he is very much interested in the job of England team's selector.

The managing director of England men's cricket Rob Key is yet to name the chief selector of the national team after former head coach and chief selector Chris Silverwood temporarily took on selection duties. 

In a candid chat with Following On: County Cricketer podcast, Harmison expressed his eagerness to join the setup where he can develop young players.

"I love talking about the game. I love seeing the best in young players and seeing how they develop and if they could play at the top level. I would love to be part of this new regime. If it became possible, I would jump at the chance," Steve Harmison told the Following On: County Cricketer podcast.

Harmison also pointed out that if Rob Key has already fixed a man for the job, then he'll not intervene in between.

"This is a bit different from me and Keysy [Rob Key] because of what he has seen and we have grown throughout our careers. I wouldn't want to put him in a position that if he had already got someone in mind that he thought could do a better job I wouldn't throw a spanner in the works." 

Harmison was previously interested in the job but was turned down by then MD Paul Downton, who served for 14 months between 2014 and 2015.

"I would be quite keen to have a conversation to see if that would be good that I could do to help the England cricket team. If not, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I applied for the job about eight years ago when Paul Downton didn't realise it was me," he added.

"When my application went in with all the tours I'd been on and represented England so many times and felt as though I could do a good job because my country needs me at the minute. I got a generic email that a third XI coach would have got if he had applied, which I thought was a little bit disrespectful. I told Michael Vaughan who told the world and Paul Downton wrote me a nice hand-written letter which I've still got saying 'we didn't think it was you, we're sorry you got that email and you felt as though you were being disrespected, It wasn't personal. That's fine.

When Andrew Strauss was at the helm of the affairs then, also Harmison approached him for the same role but later realised that the ex-English skipper had someone else in his mind.

"The next time around when I spoke to Straussy (Andrew Strauss) I didn't feel as though I knew he had someone lined up so I didn't see the point in applying," Harmison concluded.

According to the British Media, England legend Ian Bell is considered to be a front runner for the job of the chief selector. However, Rob Key is yet to say an official word on this. Harmison emerges as another contender, along with Matt Prior.