By Admin 
Spinners are said to have long gestation periods. More than gestation, it is a life long continuum where they continuously evolve. For South Africa’s Simon Harmer, this has been the nearly 11-year-long window between his Test debut and the latest match at the Eden Gardens here.
But astonishingly, the Kolkata contest is only the 13th of his career. Long years as a Kolpak player – a system which allowed South Africans to play in English counties as domestic talents but barred them from representing the Proteas’ National team – and the rise of Keshav Maharaj to the frontline had held him back.
On Saturday though, Harmer dipped into his vast reserves of experience – he had 1000 First Class wickets coming into the tie – to come up with fine numbers of 15.2-4-30-4. With wickets of Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Dhruv Jurel, he kept India under leash and ensured that South Africa was still alive.
Harmer, in fact, toured India in late 2015, a four-Test series India won 3-0. The offie played in Mohali and Nagpur, and watched R. Ashwin and Jadeja wreak havoc as the India spin duo finished the series with 31 and 23 wickets respectively.
“I was quite new to Test cricket [then],” Harmer said after Saturday’s play. “Ashwin was bowling like a jet and it was the expectation that I needed to do the same. When I got dropped in 2015 was when I realised that I wasn’t good enough.”
“[But] I’m a lot more confident [now]. I don’t have as many doubts and feel like I have the skill-set to compete. Whether or not it goes my way is sometimes the luck of the draw, but as long as I can say that I put a good amount of balls in the right area, I can be happy.”
True to those words, the 36-year-old has done a lot right in recent times. In Pakistan last month, with his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests (6/50), he fashioned a series-levelling win for South Africa. The offie remains confident of another positive result in Kolkata, despite the lead being just 63 runs with three wickets left.
“The pitch is going to do enough,” he said. “It’s about not getting carried away, and making sure you’re putting as many balls in the right areas. We have the belief that we can pull ourselves back.”