Full Name

Simon Ross Harmer

Born

February 10, 1989, Pretoria, Transvaal

Age

35y 38d

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Offbreak

Playing Role

Bowler

Offspinner Simon Harmer briefly made it for South Africa, then switched tracks to county cricket, and later, more than a dozen years after his first five Tests, made it back into the Test side of his country of birth.

Harmer made his first-class debut for Eastern Province in 2009-10 and was soon promoted to the franchise team at Warriors. Two seasons later he topped the first-class competition bowling charts with 44 wickets at 31.75 for Warriors but could not stake a claim for higher honours, with Paul Harris in the national side. During this time he was an A-team regular, and added capable lower-order batting to his repertoire, with a first-class hundred and several fifties.

When the South African attitude towards spin changed in the mid-2010s, Harmer came into contention - though as second to Dane Piedt, who he was also second to on the wicket-takers' list for the 2013-14 domestic season. Harmer eventually found his way into the Test side when Piedt was injured during the home series against West Indies the following season, and he took seven wickets in his debut match, the New Year's Test of 2015. He was on the Bangladesh tour later that year, and took five wickets apiece in his two Tests in India later in 2015.

That seemed to be it for his international career, though, when in the period after, he struggled to even make it into the South Africa A side. That moved him to sign a Kolpak deal with Essex, where he immediately made an impression, taking 72 wickets at under 20 each in the county's run to their first Championship title in 25 years. Though they failed to defend their title in 2018, Harmer excelled again, with 57 wickets, and the following season he helped the county secure a second Championship in three years, and their first T20 Blast success, leading from the front with a seven-wicket haul on Finals Day before hitting the winning runs.

In 2022, Harmer received a surprise call-up for South Africa and played in the extraordinary two-Test home series against Bangladesh where South Africa used two spinners - Keshav Maharaj was the other - and they took 29 of the 40 wickets to fall, bowling unchanged in two of the four innings.

Simon Harmer Career Stats

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests101621051075394/617/12427.563.0653.9400
FC20535849133234319029/8015/20725.972.8654.4395714
List A9895473438581004/424/4238.584.8847.3100
T20s178168330641951574/184/1826.717.6121.0500

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests101422214718.4162435.410019140
FC205301595927102*24.491240747.77231685612080
List A98832512236821.08124897.99019530640
T20s1781053510984315.68862127.37007937980
Simon Ross Harmer

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Test

Recent Matches of Simon Harmer

Photos of Simon Harmer

Simon Harmer celebrates dismissing Marcus Stoinis
Essex celebrate as Simon Harmer claims his second wicket
Simon Harmer shakes hands with a crestfallen Nathan Ellis after Essex's semi-final win
Matt Critchley and Simon Harmer embrace as Hampshire's Nathan Ellis sinks to his haunches
Simon Harmer is mobbed by his team-mates after completing his hat-trick
Simon Harmer pinned Tom Hartley lbw on the reverse sweep