By keeping the T20 celebration in the locker and doing an excellent job for his side, Simon Harmer showed South Africa he could be the spinner they are looking for
Firdose Moonda in Cape Town02-Jan-2015Simon Harmer could have got down on his backside and wiggled like a worm like he does on the domestic scene. He could have shrieked with sheer joy, the same sound he made in a grocery store when he received the news he was called up to the Test squad. He could have done both things together to create a crazy combination of celebration but he did not. This was Test cricket and it required some class.So Harmer produced it with clever changes of pace, a sound plan and commitment to his primary role as a container to join the recent line of successful South African debutants.He was gifted his first wicket when Devon Smith, in a hurry to get to a half-century, backed away to cut the last ball before lunch and was bowled, but produced a decent delivery to trap Leon Johnson lbw with a slider and showed acute awareness in sticking to a legside line which caught Shivnarine Chanderpaul overbalancing outside of his crease, although he modestly credited AB de Villiers with being the real reason for that major scalp.Harmer’s heartstopping moments
After spending time with the South African squad earlier in the year, then being overlooked for the winter tours as preference was given to Dane Piedt, and then included when injuries and loss of form to senior players presented an opportunity, Simon Harmer was not sure whether he featured in South Africa’s bigger picture. But in the last week he has found out that he does.
“The last four days have been an emotional roller-coaster with not being included initially and then getting the call. It has happened quickly. If you’d have said 10 days ago, I’d be sitting here, I probably would have slapped you,” Harmer said.
“I had a feeling I wasn’t going to play. I am always expecting the worst so I didn’t want to build it up. I tried to play it down and find reasons why I wasn’t going to play. But when Russell came to me I knew that walking away from this, you’re either going to be playing for South Africa or not.
“He told me he was there when I made my debut for the Warriors in April 2011 in Paarl, and he is delighted to let me know he will be there when I make my debut for South Africa.
“A couple of the guys said ‘good luck sleeping tonight’, but I can’t say I struggled to sleep. I wasn’t even extremely nervous until Hashim told me I was on next. Even when I am playing for the Warriors, that’s when the nerves usually set in. I tried to just find my lengths at first. I thought I was a bit full to start and then in the over before lunch found that inbetween length where the batsman are not sure whether to go forward or come back. That was how I got the wicket – there’s that golden rule of not going back to an offie and he did. I didn’t want to be sitting here this evening none for plenty so I was relieved. At the start I said to myself nobody can take the cap away from me and now they can’t take that wicket away either.”
And the reason for leaving out the signature celebration? “That was a T20 thing. It would be disrespectful if I was to celebrate wickets like that in Test cricket.”
Line was the most impressive of Harmer’s qualities, particularly the way he used it to tie down an end. The man dismissed after Smith was Marlon Samuels, perhaps West Indies only real aggressor in the line-up and a self-confessed disrespecter of spin, who had time to get his eye in by the time Harmer was reintroduced in the second session. “No spinner will be able to come and dictate terms to me,” Samuels said at St George’s Park after he managed to take 61 runs off the 61 balls he faced from Imran Tahir.Harmer knew he would be a similar target when Samuels showed similar intent. The West Indian No. 4 was comfortable stepping onto his backfoot to the shorter ball, read the hint of turn without any trouble and stepped out of his crease to meet a fuller delivery. Harmer could have continued in that vein and hoped he would not get the same treatment as Tahir but chose to shake things up to prevent that.He went around the wicket and switched to a leg side line to frustrate Samuels with what could have been viewed as deliberate pessimistic play. “Some people see it as a negative move but coming around isn’t negative because of the way Marlon was batting. If there was any width outside off, he was looking to get hold of it.”Harmer took that option away and the result was three maiden overs in succession sandwiched between a period of seven overs in which Harmer and Dale Steyn worked in tandem to concede just four runs. They also managed to frustrate Samuels, who showed it the second he thought there was a release in pressure.Stiaan van Zyl was brought on to bowl some part-time medium pace and started with a loosener which Samuels could not resist reaching for. He handed a catch to cover to squander another start and show South Africa Harmer might be what they’re looking for.He is not a massive turner of the ball, he does not have an unusual action or a mystery delivery or a crazy haircut but he fits into the attack. He understands he is a supporting actor to the main men, even when he seems to be surpassing them. South Africa’s attack has always and will always be built on speed and the spinners have to work around that.”What the team needs in the first innings is a holding spinner, someone who can keep things quiet,” Harmer said. “Then later, with a deteriorating pitch, you can get men around the bat and be more attacking to try to play a part in winning the game.”That is how Harmer has operated, with success, at his franchise. He ended last season’s first-class competition as the second highest-wicket taker, behind Dane Piedt but some considered him the front-runner for a place in the national side because he was proven performer. It turned out that did not guarantee him anything.Even though Piedt had only completed a first season as a fully-fledged franchise cricketer and Harmer had been doing it for four, finished as the leading wicket-taker in the 2011-12 edition and proved himself a handy lower-order batsman with a maiden hundred to his name, he was overlooked. Piedt went with South Africa to Sri Lanka and debuted in Zimbabwe, leaving Harmer wondering what more he needed to do to get a look in.The answer was simply to wait some more. It took a combination of fortune – Piedt’s sustained a shoulder injury and required a lengthy recovery period; his replacement, Robin Peterson, cut his finger – form – or lack thereof thanks to Tahir’s inconsistency – and foresight to gain Harmer a call-up. With tours to Bangladesh and India next year, South Africa have realised they may need more than just their usual quota of one spinner, who operates under the radar. They may need someone who can contain, one who knows when to attack, one who can be consistent and even one to get on his backside, wiggle like a worm and squeal.
