• Harmer tops the Saffa list

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    Going by the English County Cricket stats, Saffas are better bowlers than batsmen in English conditions.

    Three South Africans feature in the top 10 of division 1’s bowling rankings, led by the off-break spinner Simon Harmer, who snapped up 72 wickets at an average of 19.19, which included an innings 9-95 as Essex hammered Middlesex on their way to the Div 1 county title. He went on to take 14 wickets in that match for the second successive week, after taking a career-best 14-128 against Warwickshire.

    ‘You can’t really put it into words. Sometimes things go your way,’ the 28-year-old said at the time. ‘I was saying to our scorer I’ll probably never take four five-fors or 28 wickets in two games ever again – it’s just been one of those weeks.

    ‘You’ve got to ride the wave while you can because I can guarantee you I’ll be back in South Africa at the Wanderers, bowling on an absolute road and getting smashed all over the place.’

    He ended just three wickets behind the top bowler, his teammate Jamie Porter, who took 75 as the season came to a close.

    Some way behind Harmer, but in third place in the Div 1 list was Kyle Abbott, with 60 poles to his credit at 19.20. Ryan McLaren was listed seventh with 45 at 25.11.

    Rory Kleinveldt, who also had a nine-wicket innings haul, was the top Saffa bowler in Div 2, joint fifth with 50 wickets at 23.06 for Northamptonshire.

    Stiaan van Zyl was the most prolific batsman, with 1 023 runs in Div 2.

    The best in Div 1 was Dane Vilas, of Lancashire, slotting in at No 18 with 662 runs. Of those, 244 came in one innings as he and Ryan McLaren (107) put on 231 when Lancashire beat Hampshire in June.

    MOST RUNS

    Division 1:

    1 Kumar Sangakkara (Surrey), 9 matches: 1 407 at 117. HS: 200

    2 Mark Stoneman (Surrey) 12 matches: 1 156 at 60.84. HS: 197

    3 Rory Burns (Surrey) 14 matches: 1 041 at 49.57. HS: 219no

    4 Jonathan Trott (Warwicks) 14 matches: 967 at 37.19. HS: 175

    5 Nick Brown (Essex) 14 matches: 952 at 43.27. HS: 221

    18 Dane Vilas (Lancashire) 14 matches: 662 at 33.10. HS: 244

    24 Ryan McLaren (Lancashire) 14 matches:  602 at 33.44. HS: 107

    30 Gareth Berg (Hampshire) 14 matches; 568 at 31.55. HS 99no

    36: Dean Elgar (Somerset) 6 matches: 517 at 47.00. HS: 158

    48: Kyle Abbott (Hampshire) 14 matches: 418 at 29.85. HS: 97

    Division 2

    1 Luke Wells (Sussex) 12 matches: 1 292 at 64.60. HS: 258

    2 Daryl Mitchell (Worcs) 14 matches: 1 266 at 55.04. HS: 161

    3 Joe Denly (Kent) 13 matches: 1 165 att 55.47. HS: 227

    4 M Cosgrove (Leics) 12 matches: 1 112 at 48.349. HS: 188

    5 Paul Collingwood (Durham) 14 matches:  1 087 at 49.40. HS: 177

    6 Stiaan van Zyl (Sussex) 13 matches: 1 023 at 48.71; HS: 116no

    22 Richard Levi (Northants) 10 matches: 734 at 45.87. HS: 115

    26 Chris Cooke (Glamorgan) 12 matches: 695 at 43,43. HS: 113no

    29 Colin Ingram (Glamorgan) 12 matches: 672 at 37.33. HS: 155no

    38 Colin Ackermann (Leicestershire) 12 matches: 618 at 32.52. HS 118

    45 Jacques Rudolph (Glamorgan) 11 matches: 492 at 25.89. HS 111

    MOST WICKETS

    Division 1

    1 Jamie Porter (Essex), 13 matches: 75 at 16.82; BBI: 7-55, BBM: 12-95

    2 Simon Harmer (Essex) 14 matches: 72 at 19.19; BBI: 9-95; BBM: 14-128

    3 Kyle Abbott (Hampshire) 14 matches: 60 at 19.20. BBI: 7-41; BBM: 9-105

    4 Matthew Leach (Somerset) 14 matches: 51 at 25.78. BBI: 6-78, BBM: 9-111

    5 Ben  Coad (Yorkshire, 12 matches): 47 at 20.21; BBI: 6-25 BBM: 10-102

    7 Ryan McLaren (Lancashire), 14 matches: 45 at 25.11; BBI 4-37; BBM: 8-113

    Division 2

    1 Joe Leach (Worcs) 13 matches: 69 at 19.39. BBI 5-32; BBM 10-122

    2 Darren Stevens (Kent) 12 matches: 62 at 18.08. BBI: 8-75; BBM: 9-110

    3 Jofra Archer (Sussex) 12 matches: 61 at 25.29. BBI: 7-67; BBM: 11-137

    4 Liam Norwell (Gloucs) 11 matches: 59 at 17.38. BBI: 8-43; BBM: 10-95

    5 Michael Hogan (Glamorgan) 12 matches: 50 at 20.88. BBI: 6-43, BBM: 10-87

    5 Rory Kleinveldt (Northants) 12 matches: 50 at 23.06 BBI: 9-65; BBM: 11-88

    17 Marchant de Lange (Glamorgan) 11 matches: 34 at 38.67. BBI: 5-95; BBM: 6-135.

    34 Dieter Klein (Leics) 9 matches: 28 at 34.21 BBI: 6-80; BBM: 7-124

    31: Hardus Viljoen (Derbys) 5 matches: 24 at 21.54. BBI: 8-90; BBM: 15-170

    36 David Wiese (Sussex) 10 matches 22 at 37.90 BBI: 4-63 ; BBM: 5-78

    45: Vernon Philander (Sussex) 5 matches: 16 at 26.81. BBI: 4-39; BBM: 6-99

    also: Imran Tahir (Derbyshire): 4 matches: 13 wickets at 31.30. BBI: 5-76, BBM: 7-199

    Photo: Rex Features

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