Ken Borland

With the surprise windfall of the CSA 4-Day Series title beckoning, the Northerns Titans may yet pay a heavy price for dropping four catches in the space of four overs bowled by ace off-spinner Simon Harmer on the third day of their match against the Central Gauteng Lions at Centurion on Sunday.

With a massive first-innings lead of 212 secured thanks to Theunis de Bruyn’s commanding 143, Northerns had reduced the Lions to a parlous 46/4 in their second innings, still 166 behind. But Reeza Hendricks and Mitchell van Buuren were then dropped twice each close to the bat off Harmer. De Bruyn missed both batsmen at slip, and Gihahn Cloete also gave them each a life at short-leg. Both fielders would have felt one of their misses was a half-chance.

But not getting them out then nevertheless proved extremely costly for the Titans, as Hendricks (73*) and Van Buuren (31*) batted the Lions through to stumps on 130/4 with an unbeaten stand of 84.

Lizaad Williams was outstanding with the new ball for Northerns, taking 2/5 in 11 overs that included six maidens.

With the Eastern Province Warriors unable to get on the field in Bloemfontein due to rain, Northerns gave themselves a great chance of stealing the four-day crown as they piled up 482 in their first innings.

The innings was built around De Bruyn’s epic six-hour knock, in which he faced 228 balls and played numerous great strokes to collect 14 fours and four sixes.

The Titans resumed the third day on 261/3 and there was solid batting all the way down the order with Sibonelo Makhanya scoring 35, Cloete 34, Jiveshan Pillay 21 and Aya Gqamane 17. But Corbin Bosch rather stole the show in the afternoon as he lashed a fiery 57 off just 65 balls.

Paceman Codi Yusuf put in an impressive, skilful effort with the ball, taking 5/91 in 28.5 overs.

From a Warriors point of view, it was a great pity that no play was possible on the third day of their match against the Free State Knights, with Eastern Province stranded on 166/3 in reply to the hosts’ first innings of 227.

Eastern Province already have more points (116.14) on the log than either the Lions (115.70) or Titans (113.56), but with Northerns eyeing victory at Centurion, the Warriors may need to pit themselves against the Knights in some sort of limited-overs contest within the match on the final day if they are to win the title.

In the other matches, a top-class 198 not out by opener Pieter Malan has led the Boland Rocks to 389/7 in reply to the KZN Dolphins’ total of 422, with a draw beckoning in Paarl.

At Newlands, it was a productive day for Western Province spinners George Linde (29-8-69-5) and Kyle Simmonds (14-5-24-4) as they bowled North-West out for 202 and enforced the follow-on.

North-West were 175/6 in their second innings at stumps, still facing a deficit of 199 runs. A pair of half-centuries by Wesley Marshall (58) and Senuran Muthusamy (67*) was keeping them barely afloat. Linde and Simmonds have each picked up another wicket.

Muthusamy also scored 53 in the North-West first innings, sharing a partnership of 58 for the fourth wicket with opener Lesego Senokwane (66), the biggest of the innings.

Perhaps the biggest change in the Simon Harmer who last played for South Africa in 2015 and the one who is now back in the Test squad in New Zealand is how the off-spinner has become a systematic winner of matches, mostly for Essex but now also for the Northerns Titans in the limited time he has spent with them.

Harmer has collected more first-class wickets than anyone else in the world over the last five years and he has taken 10 wickets in a match seven times in 64 matches for Essex, with 23 five-wicket hauls.

The 32-year-old has already taken 35 wickets in six matches for Northerns, playing key roles in their wins at Newlands (10 wickets) and in Bloemfontein (8 wickets).

“There’s been that perception that off-spinners in general are there to stop the game, go for two runs an over,” Harmer told The Citizen on Tuesday, “but that has shifted to being a wicket-taking option, someone able to win games.

“I have also changed and I now have the realisation that I can win games, I’m able to really influence the outcome. That has been a big change for me over the last few years.

“I’ve relished winning games for Essex and hopefully now even more for the Titans, winning games for them in the second innings in South African conditions.

“At the start of the season, conditions were not conducive to spin so my role was to hold up an end, stop the game, give the team control at one end while the seamers rotate,” Harmer said.

It is very apparent that a major part of Harmer’s development into being one of the world’s best off-spinners has simply been the amount of cricket he has played. The Pretoria-born star has thrived on playing back-to-back seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres. He was a bit more than a budding off-spinner when he signed as a Kolpak player in English county cricket, but he is now certainly in full bloom as a master of his craft.

“Playing back-to-back seasons has really helped me to evolve and develop much quicker,” Harmer said. “And it’s not just the number of games but also the different conditions you experience.

“In England the weather is different, you play with a Dukes ball and there are different pitches. So you learn a lot and you have to do it quickly. You learn about different grips, strategies and which variations work.

“I’ve learnt along the way to sum up what will work very early in a spell and you also need to be able to change things if they are not working, and still be accurate and consistent,” Harmer said.

Keshav Maharaj is almost exactly a year younger than him, having celebrated his 32^nd birthday on Monday, while Harmer turns 33 on Thursday, and their experience and adaptability makes one feel the Proteas have their Test spin-bowling bases well covered.

Simon Harmer returned to South African cricket last year with not much more than hope that he would be able to make an international comeback too and be reunited with the precious green cap that was packed away in his debut Proteas kitbag in the Eastern Cape.

And now he is sitting in Christchurch, New Zealand, back in the Proteas camp for the first time since 2015. The prolific off-spinner had to go to some lengths to make sure the same cap he was given on his debut against the West Indies in Cape Town in January 2015 made the trip too.

“I’ve still got all my caps because my brother and I have a pact that we’ll have a beach-house together one day and all my memorabilia will be for the bar,” Harmer explained on Monday.

“My Test cap was in the bag I was given on my Proteas debut, but I was not sure it would ever see the light of day again. I had to get my mother-in-law to post it to Pretoria from Kenton-on-Sea.

“It was very nostalgic to see it again and it’s always something special when you get your new kit, all with the South African badge on it. I was like a kid on Christmas opening all the bags.

“I always aspired to play for South Africa, but being allowed to play cricket at home again, I was trying to keep my head down and focused on the Titans environment, while trying to get back into international cricket,” Harmer said.

The 32-year-old will probably still have to show the sort of patience that he is famous for with ball-in-hand because that long-awaited return to Test cricket is probably not going to happen on a Hagley Oval pitch that is seamer-friendly unless frontline spinner Keshav Maharaj is ruled out for some reason.

“The Hagley Oval is probably the greenest, quickest, best-bouncing pitch in New Zealand, so the chances of us playing two spinners are low,” Harmer admitted. “But I will just make sure that I am ready.

“I see myself as a supporting act to Kesh, who has done extremely well. So I will keep working hard, supporting the team and just trying to contribute however I can, whether that’s by playing good music in the changeroom, throwing balls or giving encouragement.

“I’m under no illusions, Victor Mpitsang [selection convenor] was transparent about how I fit into the whole structure, but I am here now and I will try and show what I’m about.

“I think I’ve matured a lot and I understand now what I need to do and how to go about things. When I first played for the Proteas I put so much pressure on myself, worrying what people thought and whether I was good enough. I’m a lot more comfortable in my skin now,” Harmer said.

If the main thing is winning then Proteas fans should be delighted to see Simon Harmer back in the Test squad for the tour to New Zealand. Paul Harris, South Africa’s leading spinner when they were last ranked No.1 in the longest format, is certainly very happy to see the Essex off-spinner back in the national team’s ranks.

The returns of Harmer and paceman Lutho Sipamla are the two changes to the squad that did such fine duty against India, with George Linde unavailable due to his wedding and Sisanda Magala giving way to his Central Gauteng Lions team-mate.

The 32-year-old Harmer has played five Tests, the last of which was against India in Nagpur in November 2015. The following year he signed a Kolpak deal with Essex and in the last five years has been the most prolific wicket-taker in first-class cricket anywhere in the world – with 443 wickets at an average of just 22.77. Playing for Northerns, he is the second-highest wicket-taker in the four-day competition behind Duanne Olivier (28), with 27 at 21.40.

“It’s amazing what Harmer has achieved and he deserves his recall,” Harris told The Citizen on Wednesday. “He’ll obviously be coming in with huge confidence because he has taken so many wickets.

“England would have selected him ages ago if they could have. But we might play two spinners and Simon balances it nicely – an offie joining a left-armer.

“He’ll be a great back-up. Keshav Maharaj is our main spinner, but to have Harmer pushing him, putting pressure on him, will be good.

“It’s a great selection and, as much as we enjoy criticising the selectors, we have to give them credit here. It’s a really good squad,” Harris said.

The Proteas leave for New Zealand next week and, due to Covid fears, the second Test has been moved from Wellington to Christchurch, where the first Test from February 17 will be played.

Hagley Oval was the venue where earlier this month the Black Caps snuffed out, via an innings victory, Bangladesh’s hopes of an historic series win in New Zealand following their shock victory at Mount Maunganui.

“We’ve seen lately that there have generally been good pitches there,” Harris said. “There will be a bit in it for the seamers, so it would have been nice to have Anrich Nortje fit.

“But sometimes they can be a bit slow and then the spinners come into it. So you just need to hang in there, hit the deck hard and there may be a bit of turn later. It should be a cracking series!” Harris added.

Proteas Test squad vs New Zealand – Dean Elgar (captain), Sarel Erwee, Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma (vice-captain), Kyle Verreynne, Ryan Rickelton, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Glenton Stuurman, Lutho Sipamla.