Hernia operation will put Harmison out of India series

Harmison, who broke down on the first day of Durham's Championship match with Sussex at Horsham on Friday, will be named in England's squad this morning but will be reassessed by the ECB medical team tomorrow evening to see if there is any chance of him avoiding surgery.

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England yesterday conceded his chances of playing at Lord's were 'extremely doubtful' and the strong likelihood is that he will have an operation to repair the damage this week.

With a minimum of six weeks required for recovery, he will miss the three Tests at Headquarters, Trent Bridge and The Oval.

That outcome will be a bitter blow for the Durham man, who was desperate to put in a performance at Lord's this week to make up for his poor showing in the first Test of the summer there against West Indies. Harmison described himself as 'in pain and in bits' last night.

"I'm devastated, to be honest," he said. "I didn't bowl that well at Lord's earlier in the season and I had high hopes of putting things right.

"The way I bowled at The Oval against Surrey last week was the best I have bowled for some time. I had good gas, good direction.

"I bowled a bit too short but the pitch there gives you licence and I got some good batsmen out."

The problem first emerged during the final Test against West Indies at Chester-le- Street. But while surgery was considered inevitable in the long run, Harmison had hoped to get through the Tests against India first.

As he said: "At that stage my target was August 18, the end of the series with India. Any cricket after that would have been a bonus.

Then I could have had the op and had plenty of time to recover before the Test tour to Sri Lanka in December.

"I don't regret not having had the operation sooner because until the hernia flared up again on Friday I'd had no problems whatsoever.

"I remember diving for the ball at fine leg and getting up a bit gingerly. During the first spell of four overs it didn't feel quite right and when I came back for a second I knew after one ball that I was in trouble.

"Now I'll be advised by the medics, but I'm hoping to get back as soon as possible."

England are determined to stick with their four-man attack in the continuing absence of Andrew Flintoff, and are likely to choose Harmison's replacement from Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Chris Tremlett.