Simon Ross Harmer (born 10 February 1989) is a South African international

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He plays for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

primarily as an off-break bowler but is also a capable lower order batsman. He plays domestic cricket for Titans.

Biography

Harmer debuted for Warriors in the 2010–2011 first class season against the Cape Cobras claiming 5/98 in the first innings and 1/53 in the second innings to go along with his 46 and 69 runs with the bat. He became a regular fixture in Warriors side in the 2011–2012 side, ending the season as leading wicket taker in his full rookie season, claiming 44 wickets. These performances earned him a call up for the 3rd Test against West Indies in 2014/15, where he made his Test match debut for South Africa against the West Indies on 2 January 2015 at

Newlands Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region New Zealand * Newlands, Wellington, a suburb of Wellington South Africa * Newlands, Cape Town, a suburb of Cape Town * Newlands, Johannesbur ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. He took his debut Test wicket by bowling Devon Smith in the last over before the lunch break on day one and ended the innings with figures of 3/71 from 26 overs. Ahead of the 2017 season, Harmer signed for

Essex County Cricket Club Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 when ...

as a Kolpak player. In June, in the

2017 County Championship The 2017 County Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2017 Specsavers County Championship), was the 118th cricket County Championship season. It was announced in March 2016 that the season would feature eight teams in Division One a ...

, Harmer took 9 wickets for 95 runs in the second innings against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. He was the first bowler for Essex to take nine wickets in an innings since

Mark Ilott Mark Christopher Ilott (born 27 August 1970) is a former English professional cricketer. Having previously played with the minor county Hertfordshire, Ilott began his career with Essex in 1988. A left-arm swing bowler in the mould of John L ...

in 1995, and he finished with career-best match figures of 14 for 172. Harmer continued his form and took the wicket which confirmed Essex as Champions in the win against Warwickshire. Harmer finished the 2017 season with the second-highest haul in the Country in terms of wickets taken, with 72 wickets at 19.19. Although neither he, nor his team, hit the same heights in 2018, he still managed 57 wickets at 24.45 each and provided useful runs batting at number eight in the batting order. Simon Harmer Essex

In October 2018, Harmer was named in

Jozi Stars Jozi Stars were a city-based franchise team of the South African Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team was based at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. Jozi Stars played in the first two editions of the MLS in 201 ...

' squad for the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

of the

Mzansi Super League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

T20 tournament. He was the leading wicket-taker for Warriors in the

2018–19 CSA 4-Day Franchise Series The 2018–19 CSA 4-Day Franchise Series was a first-class cricket competition that took place in South Africa from 26 September 2018 to 31 January 2019. It was the first edition not to be sponsored by Sunfoil, after they decided not to renew t ...

, with 27 dismissals in seven matches. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the

team for the

2019 Mzansi Super League The 2019 Mzansi Super League, also known as the MSL 2.0, was the second edition of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 (T20) franchise cricket tournament in South Africa. It started on 8 November and ended on 16 December 2019. Jozi Stars wer ...

tournament. In September 2019, Harmer captained Essex County Cricket Club to their first ever

T20 Blast The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

victory against the

Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded ...

after taking 7 wickets across both the semi-final and final on Finals Day, the most by any bowler on a T20 English Domestic Finals Day. In April 2020 he was named as one of the

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

for his T20 and Championship performances for Essex in the 2019 season in the 2020 edition of ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

''. In April 2021, Harmer was named in Northerns' squad, ahead of the 2021–22 cricket season in South Africa. In January 2022, Harmer was named in the 17-man South Africa Test squad for their tour of New Zealand. In April 2022, Harmer made his first appearance for the Proteas Test side in six and a half years against Bangladesh. He and

Keshav Maharaj Keshav Atmanand Maharaj (born 7 February 1990) is a South African professional cricketer who plays for the South Africa national team in Tests, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket. He is currently the vice-capta ...

were instrumental in helping defeat Bangladesh 2–0 in the 2 test series, taking 13 wickets.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harmer, Simon Living people 1989 births South African cricketers South Africa Test cricketers Warriors cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Border cricketers Essex cricketers Titans cricketers Jozi Stars cricketers Northerns cricketers Cricketers from Pretoria South African people of British descent Wisden Cricketers of the Year