Harvey started his first-class cricket career with Victoria in the Sheffield Shield in 1993 as an all-rounder. He was called up to the Australian one day cricket team in 1997 and played 73 One Day Internationals. Harvey bowled tightly at the end of games, equipped with a well disguised slower ball, as well as being a big hitting late order batsman, however he did not hit an ODI half-century.
Harvey played in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa as a replacement for the injured Shane Watson. He played in Australia's group game against Pakistan, scoring 24 at better than a run-a-ball, supporting Andrew Symonds who made a match-winning 143 not out. Defending 310, Harvey was the best bowler picking up 4 wickets, including one with his first ball, as Australia won comfortably. Harvey lost his place when Darren Lehmann and Michael Bevan returned from injury. He featured in one more group game against the Netherlands where he picked up three more wickets. He played in the first Super Six game against Sri Lanka making a brief 5 not out at the end of Australia's innings. He did not take a wicket when he bowled but he was economical. Against New Zealand he failed with the bat making just 2 but he bowled economically again, taking 1/11 in 6 overs. In the final Super Six stage against tournament surprise packageKenya he bowled tightly without reward. However, in the run chase of 175, after Australia stuttered, he and Symonds were involved together in a 50-run partnership as they saw Australia home carrying on their unbeaten run through the tournament. Harvey finished on 24 not out. Because of an injury to Damien Martyn, he played in the semi-final against Sri Lanka. In the tournament he played 6 games, scored 66 runs at 22.00 and took 8 wickets at 19.62
English career
Harvey played for Gloucestershire from 1999 to 2003 in the English County Championship and domestic one-day competitions. He was an integral part of the team that won a number of one-day trophies, including four one-day finals in a row. Harvey also scored the first Twenty20cricket century in 2003, and scored three T20 centuries in all. In 2004 he switched counties to play for Yorkshire for whom he played until 2005. For 2006, he returned to play for Gloucestershire in the County Championship and Victoria in the Pura Cup. He signed to play for Derbyshire in 2007, but did not play a full season as his clearance to play as an English-qualified player was not received from the Home Office. Approval was delayed as a result of a drink-driving conviction, a decision which upset Derbyshire chief executiveJohn Sears. Derbyshire allowed Harvey to play for Middleton Cricket Club for a weekend as a temporary replacement for their professional.
For the 2005–06 season, Harvey played with the South African provincial side Nashua-Western Province Boland, where he also coached and commentated, sometimes doing two or all three at once.
Twenty20
Harvey excelled in the Twenty20 format, initially for Gloucestershire and Victoria. He also played in the first Indian Cricket League Twenty20 competition in 2007 for Chennai Superstars. He played in the Chennai team that won the inaugural league. He won both the man of the match award for the final and the player of the tournament award. Being a specialist Twenty20 player, he signed short-term deals especially for the Twenty20 with Hampshire Hawks in 2008 and Northamptonshire Steelbacks in 2009. On his debut for Northants, he scored 12 with the bat but starred with the ball taking 4 for 18 off 4 overs to help them to a 17-run win against Warwickshire Bears. Harvey contracted swine flu, which kept him out of the quarter finals which Northamptonshire won. He returned to play in the finals day of the competition. In February 2010, Harvey signed to play T20 and first-class matches for Zimbabwean franchise Southern Rocks
