{"id":241953,"date":"2026-05-05T07:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T07:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/english-cricketers-dont-always-have-that-fight-simon-harmer-on-lessons-from-a-decade-in-county-game\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T07:00:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T07:00:46","slug":"english-cricketers-dont-always-have-that-fight-simon-harmer-on-lessons-from-a-decade-in-county-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/english-cricketers-dont-always-have-that-fight-simon-harmer-on-lessons-from-a-decade-in-county-game\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018English cricketers don\u2019t always have that fight\u2019: Simon Harmer on lessons from a decade in county game"},"content":{"rendered":"

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F<\/span>or 10 seasons, few have earned the right to comment on English cricket more than Simon Harmer. Because for 10 seasons, no one has taken more County Championship<\/a> wickets than the South African off-spinner who arrived at Essex in 2017 on a six-month contract, his international career stalled and his options narrowing fast.<\/p>\n

He has since become one of the great imports of the English game: 522 first-class wickets and counting for Essex<\/a>, two County Championship titles, a Bob Willis Trophy, a return to South Africa\u2019s Test side and, perhaps most importantly, contentment. \u201cMy journey has been bumpy,\u201d Harmer says from a sun-drenched beer garden near the Oval. \u201cI can say now that I\u2019m at peace with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he arrived at Chelmsford on a Kolpak deal, Harmer had drifted out of the South Africa picture after only five Tests. Within months, he had gone from first-choice spinner to playing backup for Keshav Maharaj and Dane Piedt. Harmer could read the room. \u201cI\u2019m not dumb,\u201d he says. \u201cI know when I\u2019m not wanted.\u201d Essex, newly promoted to Division One, needed a spinner. Harmer needed a stage.<\/p>\n

He was an instant success. He bagged 72 wickets at 19.19 in his first season as Essex claimed their first title in 25 years. He finished that campaign, and the six that followed, as the most prolific spinner in the country. In three of those seasons, he topped the overall wicket-taking charts. Rumours of an England call-up followed, though he insists there was never a serious chance.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Simon Harmer (bottom) celebrates Essex\u2019s 2017 County Championship title with Jamie Porter at the end of a stunning debut season.<\/span> Photograph: TGSPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When reminded of the scale of it, he shrugs. \u201cIt\u2019s my job,\u201d he says. \u201cI just want to make sure that when I call it a day, I can say I was the best version of Simon Harmer that I could have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an edge that runs through him. He is less interested in talking about the flight and turn of a cricket ball than the psychological battle between batter and bowler. He talks about the embarrassment he felt when he was dropped by the Proteas and how he turned that into a weapon.\u201cEverybody is going to face that shit,\u201d he says. \u201cHow do you deal with it? Do you fade, or do you prove the fuckers wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

But he is not just a scrapper. Harmer is a craftsman, one of the great problem-solvers of the modern county game. \u201cI love working out [a batter],\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what gets me going. What\u2019s he looking to do, where is he looking to score, what\u2019s easy, what\u2019s difficult, what field will get me a wicket? I love all that. That is the art for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is why his view on England carries weight. He has spent a decade studying their domestic batters up close. And on the Test team\u2019s aggressive philosophy, Harmer is unconvinced by some of the thinking behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do feel selection has gone away from scoring a thousand runs in the County Championship for a couple of years, to \u2018it\u2019s not how many you score, it\u2019s how you score,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cIf it\u2019s easy on the eye, it\u2019ll get you in the side.\u201d<\/p>\n

England, he insists, remain dangerous. \u201cRoot is like the only traditional Test cricketer in there but he\u2019s still reverse-ramping Pat Cummins.\u201d But he is not sure the approach bends the format as easily as some believe. Test cricket still rewards control and consistency over time, and he senses a disconnect between what Rob Key and Brendon McCullum are chasing, and what the format demands.<\/p>\n

On English spinners, Harmer is more sympathetic. Conditions, he says, often reduce them to support acts. \u201cIn England, generally your spinners are a bit of an afterthought.\u201d He admires Liam Dawson (\u201ca hell of a cricketer\u201d) and Jack Leach (\u201cvery accurate, very wily\u201d) but questions the system around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a lack of resources, you\u2019ve got 18 counties,\u201d he says. \u201cBut how many have a spin-bowling coach? Probably two or three.\u201d Talent is not the issue. \u201cSomebody can have all the skills in the world, but when it hits, if they run for the hills, it doesn\u2019t matter how good they are. I think English cricketers don\u2019t always have that fight in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He points a finger at the county circuit. \u201cWith 18 teams, there\u2019s definitely a place for mediocrity. There are loads of guys just plodding along, doing enough to keep their average contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Harmer is just as blunt on the global game. South Africa\u2019s World Test Championship triumph<\/a> last year has not shifted the balance of power. \u201cBecause of their commercial power, they have all of the power,\u201d he says of India. \u201cThe BCCI control the ICC. But what can we do? As a player you just control the controllables. The only thing that changes the narrative is winning trophies.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is why he so admires the current South Africa side under Shukri Conrad and Temba Bavuma, which is \u201cmore than the sum of their parts with only a couple of superstars\u201d. Conrad, in particular, suits him. \u201cIf he thinks you\u2019re shit, he\u2019ll tell you straight. I rate that. I\u2019ve not always had that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Harmer walks out at the Oval during Essex\u2019s recent match against Surrey. He concedes there is \u2018a place for mediocrity\u2019 in the county game.<\/span> Photograph: Jay Patel\/SPP\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Harmer has mellowed; a combination of his security with the Proteas and becoming a father nine months ago. \u201cI don\u2019t think I was a good person on the field when I was younger. I didn\u2019t know any different.\u201d These days he has little time for \u201cdumb abuse\u201d, though county cricket still has its irritants. Somerset remain natural rivals. Sussex, he says, \u201cstrut around like they\u2019ve won three championships in a row\u201d.<\/p>\n

The end is coming into view at the age of 37. Harmer reckons he has \u201ctwo more seasons\u201d left. After that, a move to law. He is finishing a degree and wants to become a barrister. \u201cI have to be brave enough to go and be shit at something for the first time again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before that, there are still moments to savour. His favourite wicket? Steven Finn, lbw late on to beat the defending champions, Middlesex, in 2017, his ninth scalp in the innings. Best teammate? \u201cSir Alastair Cook. Not just as a cricketer, as a person,\u201d with Ryan ten Doeschate the standout leader. The best player he\u2019s played against? \u201cThe master, Kumar Sangakkara. I had him caught at first slip once.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, though, he is still here, still spinning, still fighting, still proof that one short contract can birth a legacy. \u201cStop waiting around for the perfect situation,\u201d he suggests. \u201cGet on a plane and go. That\u2019s all it took for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For 10 seasons, few have earned the right to comment on English cricket more than Simon Harmer. Because for 10 seasons, no one has taken more County Championship wickets than the South African off-spinner who arrived at Essex in 2017 on a six-month contract, his international career stalled and his options narrowing fast. He has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":241954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6803],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-241953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}