It was worth the wait, and he had a stellar 2010 with the white ball, collecting 40 wickets from the sixteen ODIs he played at a ridiculous average of 15.17. He was welcomed into the Test team as well, and reaped 20 wickets in his first four Tests at a sub-20 average. But in his fifth Test, injury struck. He limped off the MCG with only one working knee - the other struck with a chronic injury that has plagued his career since. The Australians have decided that he can only play one format now, and as a result he only added four ODI caps to his original haul on a dry-run tour last year when Australia tried out as many of the players they wanted to be Ashes prospects as possible.
Ryan Harris is a stellar player in a less-than-stellar team.
He is likely to be rested at The Oval, and replaced in all likelihood by Mitchell Starc, following an in-out pattern that has persisted throughout his career. For someone who has missed such a huge amount of Test cricket, it speaks volumes that he today moved up to number seven in the world rankings. At almost 34 years of age, this winter's Ashes series will probably be his last hurrah if he wants to be able to walk in old age, and if he can stay fit then his legacy may well be helping Australia to regain the Ashes. England will have to beware.