For a man unafraid of big decisions, the best advice Simon Harmer ever received was simply to relax and be light. His first major life change came at 15 in his Pretoria back garden, when he changed from bowling seam to spin to his brother.
More big changes followed. He moved to Nelson Mandela Bay University to study law and play for Eastern Province.
“My dad and I packed the car and the trailer and made the 10-hour trip down to Port Elizabeth. I’d never been before in my life,” he told Wisden.
After being dropped by South Africa in 2015, he signed for Essex on a Kolpak deal, being paid £30,000 (R680,000) for a six-month contract.
Kolpak meant he could not play for South Africa, but he felt he wasn’t in the right space with his skills and wanted to learn. So, in 2016, he went to see Indian coach and spin guru Umesh Patwal in the Mumbai suburb of Kandivali. He had first met Patwal in a camp in 2012 and remembered his way of whittling away the complications cricketers often bring into their game.
Patwal’s advice was simple. “Relax your hand. Hold the ball light,” he told Wisden. Also, get off your toes. “Stay on your whole foot, get your thumb out of your backside and use it in your action.” Simple Simon was reborn, and Essex were all the better for it.
“Harmer worked with Patwal every year after that,” according to financialexpress.com. “In Mumbai, then in Abu Dhabi for Essex preseason. Harmer paid for everything. Seven-star hotel, flights, visa. He even got Patwal his own net separate from the Essex team. That’s how much he valued this partnership.”
Success came at Essex. He was made captain. In 2020 he was named one of Wisden’s cricketers of the year. But, something was missing — Test cricket. The English media spoke about the possibility of representing England, but there were residency issues. He didn’t feel settled.
“I’m very much a cricketing nomad,” Harmer told ESPNcricinfo. “I pack up my life, put it in boxes, store them and move on to the next place. It’s extremely frustrating because, as much as I love Essex, I feel like I don’t belong because I don’t have somewhere to come back to.
“Excuse my language, but some cricketers are kissed on the c**k, and things come easy. I feel like I’m a late bloomer in life and cricket: I’ve had to do things the hard way. I’ve had to put myself under pressure, which I think I quite enjoy. It’s just the way things have worked out.”
He started asking himself questions. Could he bowl at the MCG and in India? “I want to see: can I do that? Can I rock up on day five at the MCG and spin a team out? Or am I not good enough to do that? Am I good enough to take wickets in India? I’ve tried it once and failed. Can I deal with the pressures of international cricket? It’s more about that, more unanswered questions …”
Another big decision had to be made, another chance to be taken. He wanted to play for his country again. This week, 10 years after his last tour of India, he was named player of the series. The change, he told me last week, was belief and knowing he wanted to be better.
“I would say the confidence in my own ability is the difference. I feel like I can compete at this level, whereas in 2015 I was kidding myself into believing and hoping things would go my way, but I obviously had a lot of growing to do and a lot to learn. I’m a better person for it.
“Coming back into to the Test set-up, getting backed by Shukri [Conrad, Proteas coach] and the selectors is something I have dreamed off. Back here in India and competing again is everything I have ever dreamed of. I suppose you might say there were or are lot of ‘skeletons’ in the closet, so it’s good to be back here and to be competing again.”
Simon Harmer, keeping it simple, light and relaxed.
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