Simon Harmer gets to 1,000 wickets in First-Class cricket: Stats
What's the story
South Africa leveled the two-match Test series against Pakistan with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory in the second match at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The win was largely due to Simon Harmer's exceptional performance, who claimed six wickets in the second innings. His record six-fer helped the Proteas restrict Pakistan to 138 in the second innings. As a result, SA chased down a modest 68 to win the Test. Notably, Harmer completed 1,000 wickets in First-Class cricket.
Match
How the match panned out
Opting to bat first on a hard Pindi surface, Pakistan compiled 333. Keshav Maharaj, returning from an injury, took a seven-wicket haul. Lower order's incredible effort powered SA to 404 thereafter. Asif Afridi scripted history with a six-fer. Leading by 71 runs, SA bowled Pakistan out for 138 in the second innings, with Harmer taking six wickets. SA's chase of 68 runs was a matter of time.
Collapse
Harmer trigger Pakistan's middle-order collapse
Pakistan suffered a middle-order collapse, losing three wickets for just 12 runs. Harmer dismissed Mohammad Rizwan and Noman Ali in quick succession to power the Proteas. While the hosts perished in the second innings, the off-spinner took 6/50 in 20 overs, including five maidens. Maharaj (2/34) and Kagiso Rabada (1/38) took the remaining three wickets.
Milestone achievement
Harmer takes his tally to 1,000 FC wickets
Harmer's six-fer in the second innings took his First-Class tally of wickets to 1,000. He became only the fourth South African cricketer to achieve this milestone, joining Charlie Llewellyn (1013), Mike Procter (1417), and Allan Donald (1216), according to ESPNcricinfo. Harmer, 36, now has 1,000 wickets from just 234 FC matches at an average of 26.34. His tally includes a record 58 fifers (10W: 14).
Information
Maiden Test fifer for Harmer
In Rawalpindi, Harmer recorded his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket. Across 12 Tests, the off-spinner has raced to 52 wickets at an average of 26.00. His economy rate in the format reads 3.05.
Do you know?
Harmer joins this elite club
Harmer is the 21st off-spinner to have taken 1,000 wickets in First-Class cricket. According to ESPNcricinfo, the last off-spinner with this feat was Robert Croft, who completed the same in 2007.