Stats - First-class Harmer enters elite wicket-takers' club

4 - Harmer is only the fourth South Africa player to claim 1000 wickets in first-class cricket. Charlie Llewellyn (1013), Mike Procter (1417) and Allan Donald (1216) were the ones to get there before him.

2 - Only two players who made their first-class debuts in the 21st century have taken 1000 wickets in the format. Harmer, whose first-class debut was in November 2009, and James Anderson, who had made his debut in May 2002. His milestone 1000th wicket came in July 2021. Anderson was also the last of the 216 bowlers to reach 1000 first-class wickets before Harmer.

Harmer is the only bowler in the world with over 900 wickets since his first-class debut, with Malinda Pushpakumara's 874 being the next best.

514 - Wickets for Harmer in first-class cricket in England. Of those, 513 have come for Essex, all since 2017, and one for South Africa in a Test in 2022. Harmer is the only bowler with 500-plus first-class wickets in England since 2017, with Kyle Abbott's 442 being the next highest.

Harmer's 35 five-fors and ten ten-wicket match hauls are also the most by any bowler in England in this period.

Not to forget, Harmer has 453 wickets at home in South Africa, the second-highest since his first-class debut, behind only Shaun von Berg (522).

58 - Five-wicket hauls for Harmer in first-class cricket. Only Pushpakumara (80) and Gayan Sirisoma (61) have more five-fors than Harmer since his first-class debut in November 2009. R Ashwin (51) is the only other bowler with 50-plus five-fors in this period.

Harmer's effort in the Rawalpindi Test was his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket outside of England and South Africa, where he has 35 and 22 respectively. Harmer, however, has played only 11 first-class matches outside those two countries.

331 - Wickets for Harmer in Chelmsford, the home ground of his county team, Essex. Only one bowler has taken more first-class wickets at a ground in the last 20 years - 374 by Tim Murtagh at Lord's.

Harmer has 27 five-wicket hauls across the 58 matches he played in Chelmsford, the most by a bowler at a venue in the last 20 years. Harmer has taken ten-plus wickets in a game on ten occasions at the venue, which is also the most.

20 - Right-arm offspinners with 1000-plus wickets in first-class cricket before Harmer. Robert Croft was the last offspinner to reach 1000 wickets, having got there in 2007. (Twenty other players with 1000 FC wickets had multiple bowling styles throughout their careers, with right-arm off-break being one of them)

55,618 - Balls that Harmer has bowled in his first-class career so far. Only one other player has bowled over 50,000 balls in the format since his debut - Nathan Lyon (55,790).