Simon Harmer Explains How a Decade of Hard Work Transformed His Spin Bowling

In the South Africa vs India test at Eden Gardens, Simon Harmer has showcased his mastery with spin bowling. He first came into the limelight during the recently concluded tour of Pakistan, where he took 6 wickets in Rawalpindi to help South Africa secure a dominant win over the hosts. Now, the magician is doing his tricks on the Indian surfaces, giving South Africa great leverage in the bowling department.

Simon Harmer found his length at the end of the first day of the Eden Gardens test. His bowling to Washington Sundar in the last session was exceptional, even though he did not pick up a wicket during that phase. It gave Harmer a hint of how the wicket was playing out and what he needed to do to get an advantage from it.

"From that first over last night over against Washington, it was quite evident that the ball was going to turn, and you want to be testing batters on the front foot," said Simon Harmer.

"If you allow them time to go back, it allows them to adjust and play the turn off the wicket. So you try to test batters on the front foot and test their front foot defence, which allows the ball to spin past the bat and brings in both edges. Then you also try and get one not to turn to bring in lbw, but overall, it was pretty evident that you needed to be fuller rather than shorter on that wicket," said Simon Harmer.

Talking about how to handle the ball on turning wickets, Harmer said that using subtle variations in bowling is the key to achieving success on such surfaces. He added that turning wickets requires a strong skillset to deceive batters and force them into playing the wrong shots.

"It's also about having the subtle variations of balls that don't turn. Sometimes you get onto turning wickets, you're just trying to turn it more and more and more, and the skill lies in bowling a ball that doesn't turn on a wicket that is turning. Obviously, I've got a lot more experience since the last time I was here," said Simon Harmer.

In 2015, Harmer toured India with high expectations of matching Ravi Ashwin’s performance. Unfortunately, he couldn’t live up to those expectations and did not take many wickets during the test matches. This put him under a lot of pressure, and eventually, he was dropped from the team as well.

"I was quite new to Test cricket. Ravi Ashwin was bowling like a jet, and it was the expectation that I needed to do the same, so I was dealing with that and putting myself under even more pressure," said Simon Harmer.

Evolution of Simon Harmer After Getting Dropped

After being dropped, Simon Harmer didn’t lose hope and focused on improving himself. In 2016, he returned to India and worked with Umesh Patwal in Mumbai. This was the period when he discovered many new aspects of spin bowling, which helped elevate his skills to a new level.

"I came back to India in 2016 to work with Umesh Patwal in Mumbai, and I discovered a lot about spin bowling that I didn't know. That was probably the point of my career that gave me the ammunition to get better and develop and become a decent spinner," said Simon Harmer.

Talking about his time in England, Harmer explained that county cricket helped him to develop a unique skill of bowling on flat wickets. It is indeed an important technique that taught him how to bowl a bit flatter to deceive batters.  

"In the UK, bowling on flat wickets or when there are footmarks and nothing outside of those footmarks, you need to find a way to get the ball to spin quickly. It's a skill that I've developed there by being able to bowl it a little bit flatter, not always just relying on the loop. Sometimes on slow wickets, it's too slow and batters can play off the back foot. So it's about understanding my game more and finding ways to be better," said Simon Harmer.