Steve Harmison: ready to do whatever's needed to bring home the Stanford million © Getty Images Enlarge

Kevin Pietersen has admitted that he just wants this week in Antigua to end, and Andrew Flintoff is sick - literally - of the whole tournament. As the realisation slowly dawns on England's cricketers that their US$20million cash-grab is just a little tawdry, then at least Steve Harmison can say with honesty that he never wanted to be a part of this charade anyway.

Harmison's attitude to the Stanford Super Series has been one of unrelenting awkwardness, ever since he was persuaded by his new captain, Pietersen, to go back on the decision to retire from limited-overs internationals that he made at the end of the 2006-07 Ashes. His initial preference had been to come back into the fold on November 2, with the million-dollar match out of the way and a tour of India lying ahead, but now, here he is with the money-shot in sight, and he's not about to pass up an opportunity to secure his family's future.

"I'm not someone who wears big, chunky watches or drives flash Ferraris," said Harmison. "That's just not me. If you win the game, you can spend the money on whatever you want. But I've four young children and I'd like to be able to make their life better through childhood all the way through to adulthood."

Financial security is a tantalising prospect (though not, it would seem, for the Superstars captain, Chris Gayle, who declared he would "spend it, man" if the bounty came his way). First though, the players on both sides will have to negotiate the nerves that will surely be associated with this most unconventional of contests.

For Harmison, that may mean replicating the final-over heroics that saved England from slipping to an untimely defeat against Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday night. With ten runs to play with, Harmison kept the ball as full and straight as he could, to inch his side to a one-run win.

"Would I be able to bowl the same over as the other night? I would like to think I could because you are trying to win," said Harmison. "It is a game of cricket, so when you cross that white line you play for each other, you're in it together and you want to win the game. I am human so it would enter a small part of the mind but once you are about to bowl you are focused on one thing - where you want to put it."

Death bowling isn't Harmison's usual role in limited-overs cricket, although with the England camp stricken by a stomach bug, circumstances dictated that he had to step up. "I have played cricket for 10-12 years and I've bowled the last over maybe 10 times. So that was good to do. It's not normally my job but if it comes down to it, in Twenty20 you have to be flexible to carry out whatever is put in front of you."

If England have spent the week planning for all eventualities, then at least it has distracted them from dwelling too long and hard on the implications of Saturday's life-changing opportunity. "Of course, it is an incentive, it's a life-changing sum, but nobody has really discussed the money because we haven't got it. The money ain't in our hands," said Harmison. "But we're not here for the Ashes, we're not here for the World Cup. We are here for the money because the simple fact of the matter is we are playing for US$20million."

Win or lose, however, Harmison was adamant that the tournament would be beneficial to cricket in the long run, because regardless of the fattening of the players' wallets, US$3.5million will go directly to the English and West Indian boards. "It is good for the game," said Harmison. "Both boards are benefiting and the players who win are benefiting - in the long term. Hopefully the money in two or three years' time will have filtered through to the right sources. Stadiums will be better, youth cricket will be better, everything will be better." That sort of optimism ought to stand him in good stead on the big night.