There is an enduring truth to the belief that life rarely offers second chances; rarer still are the opportunities to make the most of them.
For once the ship has sailed, the opportunity has gone, more often than not the feeling is one of perhaps could have done things differently to at least have some measure of making oneself useful in their own eyes.
Having said this, when life is kind and a second chance does come your way, it’s nothing short of a blessing and this is precisely what is needed to arrest theprevious wrongs, and put in those different miles to soar to the pinnacle of excellence.
Well, one such person who has had the sanctification of a second birth albeit in international cricket is Simon Harmer.
The first comingwas short-lived
The crafty off-spinner made his debut for South Africa way back in 2015 against the West Indies in the New Year Test and was rather successful picking up seven scalps in his maiden outing.
His willingness to attack was perhaps a blessing for the Proteas as traditionally they always relied on the pace battery to make the play with the spinner being the defensive one to hold an end up.
This earned him a call for two subcontintental tours later that year amid the shores of Bangladesh and India but as fate would have it, his returns weren’t that rewarding picking just three wickets against the Bangla Tigers at an average of 60 apiece.
The India series though wasn’t bad, with Simon bowling his heart out to pick five wickets per Test in the two tests that he played at an average of 25.40 but South Africa ended up losing all the Tests against an Indian outfit that was better prepared to handle the tracks that could potentially have turn on them even if they were grown on the moon.
Surprisingly this was it for Harmer’s international career with South Africa now looking at a young Keshav Maharaj to take up their slow bowling duties with the off-spinner not even being picked for the A sides let alone the main team.
A bitter pill to swallow, if one were to be brutally honest.
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Going Kolpak was next on the radar
The international snub was perhaps a tad bit too much for this Pretoria born cricketer who then decided to go Kolpak and become a local cricketer for the English County Essex.
That in hindsight was a massive boon for Simon as he made an immediate impact taking 72 wickets in his opening season for this county which got them their first title after a massive gap of 25 long years.
This was the cherry he needed on his cricketing cake to regather the confidence of being more than a capable off-spinner, and since continued to play for the county with now amassing 1078 wickets at an average of 27 making him a cornerstone for Essex.
A record as beautiful as they come.
Second coming for South Africa was a lot more tasteful
In 2022, Harmer received a surprise call up again to the South African unit for the incoming tour of Bangladesh with the Protea think tank putting a lot of emphasis on a second spinner as the matches were to be held on the coastal surfaces which were rather conducive to spin.
The recall immediately paid dividends as Harmer was crucial along with Maharaj to completely annihilate the Bangladeshi batting taking 29 of the total 40 wickets between them.
What perhaps was different for Simon this time was the evolution of a seasoned professional, refined by years of county cricket armed with an understanding of his craft that his younger self was still developing.
And this continues to date as the man has single handedly won games for the Proteas with the remarkable tour to India last year picking up 17 wickets in the two Tests at an outstanding average of just 8.94 earning him player of the series.
And if this wasn’t all, his recent exploits against the Australians in the third Test was also pure gold as he got his maiden 10-for enroute to picking up his career best figures of 6 for 16 to make the mighty Baggy Greens look a timid version of themselves.
Certainly, a case of renewed vigour courtesy an evolution being beneficial for a second coming to international cricket.
One can only hope that this renewed vigour, and the remarkable consistency with which he continues to deliver for his motherland, remains a feature of Simon Harmer’s second coming.
With 38 fast approaching, time may not necessarily be on his side. But when the numbers beside his name with the ball continue to sparkle in gold, does the number of birthdays really matter?
Perhaps not. After all, some careers are not defined by how much time remains, but by how much one continues to make of it. And Harmer, it seems, is far from done.
