Harmison focused on positive return

Steve Harmison intends to ignore the criticism surrounding his recall by England and is confident of making an impact if he makes his Test comeback at Edgbaston this week.

While Nasser Hussain has welcomed Harmison's return to the squad for the third npower Test against South Africa, fellow former England captain Michael Atherton has dubbed the the selection "as uninspiring as his recent record in international cricket and his attitude".

But Harmison, who has claimed 75 wickets in all cricket this summer, said: "I'm not looking to prove any points, the selectors made a decision and everybody is talking about them."

He added: "They made a call months ago to leave me and Matthew Hoggard out and went six games without changing the team. They went six games playing well and at the time it was the right decision.

"Now they made a choice last week and it didn't work for them, the one in New Zealand did. I've got a chance now to stake my claim and I'm looking forward to it."

He continued: "I can only do what I've been doing and if I play this week or next week it doesn't matter as long as I'm at that stage where I'm near the top of the ladder at where I want to be.

"Now I've got to get in the team and stay in the team. Vaughany knows what he can get out of me once everything is going well and going right, and I feel with overs under my belt I'm confident of doing that."