At the age of 37, South Africa National Cricket Team spinner Simon Harmer got his maiden 10-wicket haul in Tests against Australia in Cape Town. In the stiff match, Harmer's spin wave decided the winner of the match and the series as well.

Simon Harmer was in tears when he was asked to share some tips with the younger bowlers. In most of the cases, a bowler well over his thirty, consider to take retirement from international cricket. Harmer is the latest example who has proved that age is just a number.

Simon Harmer holds back his tears

Harmer made his Test debut back in 2015, but was never a regular for the national team. By performing consistently well in domestic cricket, he regained his spot in the team in 2025. Since making the comeback a year ago, whenever he got chances, he delivered on most occasions.

At the match presentation ceremony, with the Player of the Match trophy in hand, Simon Harmer might have had some flashes of his past years, which were full of struggles and uncertainties. He held back his tears before passing tips to the emerging players.

'I don't think I would change my journey for anything. The person that I've become... So yeah, just chuffed," Harmer said.

Simon Harmer explains his performance vs Australia

The spinner took 6 wickets in the second innings of the match to dismantle the Australian batting order. In the first innings, he got four. Taking wickets against the experienced players of the game was never an easy task. The South African spinner did that precisely as he knew how to deal with the pressure of expectations and to understand what he actually needed to do to take the team forward.

"I think it was just dealing with the expectation, putting that to one side and understanding what I needed to do, getting the ball in the right areas as often as I could. And then as partnerships sort of started to build, to try and play with my pace, my trajectories, the little sort of nuances that I've learned along the way. But yeah, I think the biggest thing was just trying to get the win today, and it all worked out all right," he added.

The Cape Town wicket was a bit slow from the start, but that did not help the spinners with extra spin. Harmer mentioned that on the fourth and fifth day of the match, there was not enough support from the pitch.

"For me, I feel the wickets haven't offered as much turn as probably expected come day four and five," he expressed.

Rare record for Simon Harmer

Notably, there were not too many South African spinners before Hermer to take 10-fers against Australia. Before him, only two bowlers, Charlie Llewellyn and Hugh Tayfield, got the achievement.

South African spinners with 10-fers against Australia
10/116 - Charlie Llewellyn, Johannesburg, in 1902
13/165 - Hugh Tayfield, Melbourne, in 1952
10/120 - Simon Harmer, Cape Town, in 2026