Harmer hopes to hit new heights in Pakistan

It was sometime in late July when Simon Harmer, then playing for Essex, sent Shukri Conrad a text.

“Howzit, Shukri? I’m coming back to play for the Titans. I feel like I can still add value [for the Proteas] and if that fits in with your plans, then happy days. If it doesn’t, no hard feelings; I just thought I’d get in touch,” Harmer wrote.

After talks with newly appointed selection convener Patrick Maroney and director of national teams Enoch Nkwe, Conrad replied to Harmer, saying they felt the same but could offer no guarantees.

Harmer was expecting to be part of the Titans squad in the first few weeks of the 4-Day Series, hoping to do enough to earn a spot for the Proteas tour to India in November. But then he was included in the squad that heads to Pakistan next week.

“I was surprised; I wasn’t expecting to be on the Pakistan tour,” he said.

A groin injury sustained by Keshav Maharaj means he will miss the first Test starting in Lahore on Sunday.

“It’s just the way professional sport is. Right time, right place. Kesh gets injured and I get selected, so I suppose the rest is up to me,” Harmer said.

The 36-year-old made his debut against the West Indies in 2015 but could not cement a spot.

In eight years, he played just 10 Tests, the last of those two-and-half years ago. He has not been part of any Proteas talk since, until now.

“Shukri is probably spoilt for choice now,” Harmer said.

For Harmer, SA’s tour to India in 2015 still rankles. He played in only two of the four Tests and while his performances weren’t bad (10 wickets at an average of 25.4), they weren’t good enough to help SA win a match.

“Those wickets were turning from ball one of day one; it just creates more expectation that you have to be the guy to do it for the team,” he said.

For many in SA, Harmer’s failure to make a bigger impact on that tour scarred his reputation.

He has succeeded for Essex, helping the club win the County Championship in 2017 and 2019. But while those achievements helped assuage some of the hurt at not playing more for the Proteas, the international itch still needed to be scratched.

“You always want to be competing on the biggest stage. I’ve done well in domestic cricket and county cricket. But international cricket is where you want to compete, against the best players in the world, in different conditions,” Harmer said.

He was at Lord’s for the World Test Championship final in June and heard how Australians and other spectators wrote off SA after the first day, only for the Proteas to turn it around.

Now he can contribute to the defence thereof. Pakistan will provide another examination of SA’s ability to deal with spin. 

Last year, after England won the first Test in a high-scoring affair, Pakistan officials took to creating spinning surfaces for the remainder of the series using industrial fans to dry the pitches. Noman Ali and Sajid Khan took 39 wickets between them in the next two Tests to help the home side win that series. Both are in the Pakistan squad to face the Proteas, with three other spinners.

Harmer knows the onus is on him to take this opportunity, with the short-term goal of ensuring he is also on the plane to India in November.

“I’ve taken a lot of four-wicket hauls in Test cricket. I’ve done OK to good. That has always bothered me, never taking a five-wicket haul, never outright winning the game for the team, especially in turning conditions.

“The expectations for myself are that I get an opportunity again to try and put in match-winning performances. If I do that, I feel it takes the choice away from the selectors. If I give the selectors a reason not to select me, then I only have myself to blame.”