Harmison in race against time

Steve Harmison spent time in the Adelaide nets with Kevin Shine as the rest of the England squad had a day off © Getty Images

Steve Harmison's quest for Ashes form continued with a one-on-one session with Kevin Shine, England's bowling coach, as the team arrived in Adelaide ahead of Friday's second Test against Australia. The rest of the squad was given a day off after flying in from Queensland, but there was no respite for Harmison, who cut a lonely figure as he worked on his action with Shine in the nets.

Harmison's performance in the Ashes opener at Brisbane this week could hardly have been more sketchy. He launched the match with a massive wide that was caught at second slip by Andrew Flintoff, and returned figures of 1 for 177 over two innings. "He's gone down to work on a few technical things," explained England's coach, Duncan Fletcher. "He's pretty confident that can help him improve his bowling."

England have just two more days to iron out the glitches in Harmison's technique before the Ashes battle is resumed, and today's emergency session was evidence that time is against them. "He's got a pretty complex action and he finds it difficult to control at times," Fletcher said. "It's not easy and he's not a machine, but he just wasn't able to control it during that spell."

According to the Adelaide groundsman, Les Burdett, the strip being prepared for Friday's Test is expected to wear rapidly in temperatures that are forecast to be in excess of 38C (100F) this week. That will inevitably bring spin into the equation, with Monty Panesar widely tipped to earn a call-up to the team. "The pitch will crack, and it will open up, and everyone [will get] a go on it," said Burdett. "The fast bowlers, slow bowlers, and the batters can play their shots."

That means that England will probably have to drop one of their three specialist seamers. With Matthew Hoggard the most in-form of the three, the toss-up will have to be between Harmison and, more likely, James Anderson, who endured an equally miserable match at Brisbane. Conversely, Australia were so swayed by the success of their seam attack, particularly Stuart Clark, that they shelved their own plans to recall the legspinner Stuart MacGill to their starting line-up for the second Test.

England's likely switch to two spinners has been acknowledged as an attacking move by Mike Hussey, Panesar's former county colleague at Northamptonshire. "Monty gets more overspin on the ball so he's more of an up-and-over bowler," he told reporters in Brisbane. "When I was playing with him at Northamptonshire he was trying to produce a doosra which can be a difficult ball to play if you get it right.

"[Ashley] Giles is more about keeping it tight and bowling into the rough and building pressure that way," Hussey added, "but personally I'm not bothered either way. I think they can both be tough when the conditions are right."

Hussey didn't believe that Australia had seen the best of England yet, and predicted a strong comeback at Adelaide, no matter which 11 players came out to represent them.

"They showed a lot of fight and a lot of spirit which is what we expect from England. I think it's great we played so well in this Test match but I'm expecting England to come out and play very well in Adelaide. I'm expecting a very tough Test match and so are all the guys."