Paul Lee Harris (born 2 November 1978) is a

Zimbabwean Demographic features of the population of Zimbabwe include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Population The population of Zimbabwe ...

born former South African

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

as a

left-arm orthodox Left-arm orthodox spin or left-arm off spin, also known as slow left-arm orthodox spin bowling, is a type of spin bowling in cricket. Bowlers using this technique bowl with their left-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery spins ...

spin bowler Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered relatively slowly but with rapid rotation, giving it the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. A bowler who uses this technique is called a spinner, a spin b ...

for the South African team between 2007 and 2011. He has also played domestic cricket for Northerns,

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( ; ) were the pre-Twelve Olympians, Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). The six male ...

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

and

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

Early life

Harris was born at

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

(now

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

) where his father Mark was a member of the

British South Africa Police The British South Africa Police (BSAP) was, for most of its existence, the police force of Southern Rhodesia and Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980). It was formed as a paramilitary force of mounted infantrymen in 1889 by Cecil Rhodes' Britis ...

until 1980. As a young child he moved with his family to South Africa and was brought up in Fish Hoek, Cape Town, South Africa. His father is a pastor in the Fish Hoek area. Harris lives in Olympus,

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, with his wife Marilet.

Cricket career

While playing for Fish Hoek High School Harris was spotted by Western Province coach

Duncan Fletcher Duncan Andrew Gwynne Fletcher (born 27 September 1948) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and former cricketer, who has coached the England and Indian national teams. He led the Indian team to be the winners of the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, where ...

who brought him into the provincial underage system. At Western Province Harris played alongside then-future

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

player

Jonathan Trott Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott (born 22 April 1981) is a South African-born English former professional cricketer who played international cricket for the England cricket team and is the current head coach of the Afghanistan cricket team. Domestical ...

. Harris made his first-class cricket debut for Western Province B in 1998 in an UCB Bowl match against Eastern Province B in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

. It took over two years for Harris to play another first-class match. Due to intense competition for spinning roles, with Paul Adams and Claude Henderson being preferred over Harris, he only played two matches for Western Province, in March 2001 and February 2002. After the 2001–02 cricket season, Harris transferred to Northerns. With the restructuring of South African domestic cricket in 2004 Harris played for the

in the

SuperSport Series The CSA 4-Day Domestic Series is the domestic first class cricket competition of South Africa. The tournament is contested by teams from all nine provinces of South Africa. First contested as the Currie Cup from 1889–90, the tournament has u ...

while continuing to play occasionally for Northerns in the

South African Airways Provincial Challenges The CSA Provincial Competitions are three South African domestic cricket competitions run by Cricket South Africa (CSA). Three-day ( first-class) and one-day (List A) competitions were introduced for the 2004–05 season, while a Twenty20 competi ...

. During the

2006 English cricket season The 2006 English cricket season was the 107th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. It included home international series for England against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. England came off a winter with more Test losses th ...

, he joined Warwickshire under the

Kolpak ruling The ''Kolpak'' ruling is a European Court of Justice ruling handed down on 8 May 2003 in favour of Maroš Kolpak, a Slovak handball player. It declared that citizens of countries which have signed European Union Association Agreements have ...

after

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

spinner

Daniel Vettori Daniel Luca Vettori (born 27 January 1979) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer who played for the New Zealand national cricket team. He was the 200th player to win their Test cricket cap for New Zealand and an inductee in the Ne ...

was injured. He immediately made his debut for the Bears in a

Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, officially known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is ...

match against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. He formed a

spin bowling Spin bowling is a bowling (cricket), bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is Delivery (cricket), delivered relatively slowly but with rapid rotation, giving it the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. A bowler who uses this t ...

partnership with

off-spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

ner Alex Loudon.Hampshire v Warwickshire, LV County Championship 2006 (Division 1)
CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 April 2009 After representing South Africa internationally he became ineligible to play as a

player for Warwickshire.

International cricket

Following the retirement from international cricket of fellow spinner

Nicky Boje Nico Boje ( ; born 20 March 1973) is a South African former cricketer who played in 43 Tests, 115 One Day Internationals and single Twenty20 International for South Africa. Boje was a member of the South Africa team that won the 1998 ICC KnockO ...

in late 2006, he was given his first call-up for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

after Claude Henderson made himself unavailable. He played his first match in the third Test of the 2006–07 South Africa-India series against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

at Newlands Cricket Ground. His career was off to an eventful start, taking four

wicket In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is either of the two sets of three Stump (cricket), stumps and two Bail (cricket), bails at each end of the Cricket pitch, pitch. The Fielding (cricket), fielding team's playe ...

s in the first innings including the wicket of

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...

and is widely considered the best spinner for the Proteas since re-admission. Harris began to show some more promise on the tour to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in October and November 2007 taking 12 wickets at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 20.66 including best figures of 5–73 in the first Test in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

. In August 2007 Harris, returning to the country of his birth, led South Africa A to a win over Zimbabwe A, taking nine wickets in a man-of-the-match performance. In March 2008 Harris was selected in the South African

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

team that toured

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. Harris played three ODI matches against

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

, Mirpur and

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. During South Africa's 2008 tour of England Harris's bowling style was derided by English commentator and former player

Geoffrey Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

as being "buffet" bowling. In December 2009, in response to this and other criticism of the lack of spin in his bowling, he joked that "most people will say I’ve only got the straight one". Playing against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

during their 2009 tour to South Africa Harris was key to ensuring a South African fightback in the third Test, taking nine wickets in the Protea's innings-and-twenty-run win. For his efforts, he was named man of the match. In the second Test against India in February 2010 Harris bowled 12 wides, the most wides in a Test innings, bowling over the wicket on team instructions.

Honours

Harris was named in the

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" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

's 40 best players of 2007. He was named South African Newcomer of the Year in the 2007 Mutual & Federal SA Cricket Awards.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Paul 1978 births Living people Zimbabwean people of British descent White Rhodesian people White Zimbabwean sportspeople Zimbabwean exiles Zimbabwean emigrants to South Africa South African cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers Northerns cricketers Titans cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Western Province cricketers University of Pretoria cricketers Cricketers from Harare South African expatriate cricketers in England