The Durham paceman managed to continue to bowl against West Indies at the Riverside despite finding a lump in his groin on day two with the problem described by the ECB as "a non-serious hernia".

Although he will definitely require surgery at some stage, Harmison is hopeful he can delay the operation until the conclusion of the Test series against the Indian tourists with the final clash starting on August 9.

He said: "Ideally I don't want to miss any Test matches but I want to be bowling at 90 miles an hour and not 80.

"So, if I'm bowling quickly in the next week or so then I'll go as far as the end of the India series.

"We'll see how it goes over the next few days. If we can get through to the end of the summer that would be great."