Interview: Australia bowling coach Troy Cooley

Interview: England coach Duncan Fletcher

Harmison limbers up for a lonely stint in the Adelaide Oval nets

From the opening wide delivery to final match figures of 1-177, things did not go Harmison's way at Brisbane's Gabba.

If England are to battle back and hold on to the Ashes, the 28-year-old needs to find his form.

But is sweat and toil in the nets the best medicine for England's strike bowler after his poor display?

Australia bowling coach Troy Cooley, who used to carry out that role for England, says yes, while sports psychologist Matt Jevon believes a more holistic approach could bring reward.

I've had a quiet beer with him and he seemed quite calm and well adjusted.

Sometimes a first ball sets the tone and unfortunately Steve didn't quite get it right and that can cause a knock-on effect.

Balls, camera, action - Harmison sets about getting the groove back

Things went Australia's way and if you're not quite on the mark you're going to get left behind.

He has said he was a bit nervous at the top of his mark and everyone does get nervous, but I'm sure once he knuckles down and gets a bit of work done in the nets he should get that radar right.

He's a big, tall, lanky man - all arms and legs - and if the radar's slightly off beat it can be hard to pull back.

But everyone's got unique actions and Harmy's action works, he's proved it works and when he's on song he's a handful.

He was nervous and then he hasn't got it quite right and will be worrying about different things rather than worrying about just hitting the crease and getting it through.

Those sorts of things prey on techniques and you can go searching for something that's not quite there, but he'll find it again.

Harmy's always had ups and downs, like all good fast bowlers do, and he'll bounce back - I'm sure of that.

At the start of the South Africa tour in December 2004 he wasn't quite prepared - and he came out and said as much after the series - but he got it back.

He knows when he needs to get his body right and I'm sure he's doing that now.

It is just a matter of getting organised and working with the management and we'll see a different Steve Harmison.

He's a had a bit of a blip but we're looking forward to him coming back and keeping the series alive.

Our players are just as good and we've got an incredible pool of talent in cricket, so what's the X-factor? That's where I come in.

Harmison is consoled by skipper and close friend Andrew Flintoff

At this elite level of performance they've got the necessary skills but what happens is that the mental processes they bring to the game can break down under pressure and that brings barriers to performance rather than them needing extra motivation.

What they need to be able to do is to go into games in the frame of mind that will allow that best-ever performance to come out on a regular and consistent basis.

We've got to be careful in re-inforcing the negative perception with Steve that his technique has got a fundamental flaw or problem. It hasn't.

Steve has bowled thousands of cricket balls in his life, most of which he has bowled in an extremely expert and technically correct way.

There is something in his mind at the moment that is interrupting his ability to execute that performance effectively.

We need to find out where this problem has started and it could be something really small.

It doesn't have to be sports related. It could be family issues, he could be missing people because he's away from home, it could be lack of sleep, it could be that he has gone out with an uncomfortable stone in his shoe.

One little thing could have prompted this and we need to go back to that, find out what it is and give him the confidence back that he can bowl.