England captain Michael Vaughan has admitted the form of fast bowler Stephen Harmison is making it all but impossible for him to be rested ahead of this month's Test series against the West Indies.
England had wanted to give Harmison a breather during the ongoing NatWest one-day series with New Zealand and the West Indies to ensure he was fresh for the first Test at Lord's starting on July 22.
But the 25-year-old Durham paceman has twice taken career-best one-day figures in his last two matches and Thursday's three for 31 against the West Indies here at Headingley saw England to a seven-wicket win - their first victory of the tournament.
However, England look as if they will still have to win their last two games (against New Zealand at Bristol on Sunday and the West Indies at Lord's on Tuesday) to reach the July 10 Lord's final.
"In the situation we are in, we have to win our games," said Vaughan. "In an ideal world, of course, we would like to rest Steve, but he is our number one bowler at the minute.
"We are playing a good New Zealand side on Sunday and he has done very well against them so there is no question of him resting for the next couple of games - we have to win the games to try and get into the final."
{{/usCountry}}"We are playing a good New Zealand side on Sunday and he has done very well against them so there is no question of him resting for the next couple of games - we have to win the games to try and get into the final."
{{/usCountry}}Yorkshire batsman Vaughan said of the hostile Harmison, currently ranked as the world's leading Test pace bowler: "Steve is outstanding, there is no other way to describe him.
"His performances in the Test matches over the last six months have been really special and he is just trying to get his head around the one-day game and his last two performances have been pretty good.
"He is undoubtedly a world class performer in both forms of cricket and that is going to be a huge bonus for our team.
"Steve can get away with 10 overs in a one-day game, it is more the 25 overs in a Test that might affect him more. We have to keep our prime bowler in peak condition and once the one-day series is over he will get a good rest leading into that Test series."
England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was another player supposed to be given a break during the one-day programme.
Instead, after being ruled out of the whole series, he came back at Headingley ahead of schedule following a foot injury, as a batsman only, and made an unbeaten 21 off 18 balls to help see England home.
His return saw Surrey all-rounder Rikki Clarke axed from the squad but left England pondering whether they could again risk playing just three specialist bowlers as they had done at Headingley.
"Having Freddie back in the team is a huge bonus, but he is only back as a batter and until we get him back as a bowler we will not see the real value of having him back in the team," Vaughan said.
"This win has got our competition back on track and we should go to Bristol full of confidence, but we will have to up our performance level again because New Zealand are a good team."