[1] Harvey was a leg spin bowler, a right-handed batsman and a fine fieldsman.
In 1949 Learie Constantine wrote of him: "His big leg-breaks are most difficult to deal with, and put even batsmen like Compton and Edrich on the defensive.
[4] His most successful season was 1951, when he took 73 wickets and scored 784 runs, including a career-best 150 in six and a half hours against Leicestershire.
[5][6] However, the arrival of the leg-spinners Bruce Dooland and Gamini Goonesena at Nottinghamshire in 1953 relegated Harvey to the Second XI with occasional matches for the first team.
[7] During his playing days, Harvey was employed in the winter by Redmayne and Todd, a sports outfitters in Nottingham.