• Harmer spins Essex to victory

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    Former Proteas bowler Simon Harmer finished with figures of 6-67 and 8-64 as Essex beat Surrey by 169 runs in their Bob Willis Trophy clash in Chelmsford.

    Harmer, who was the leading wicket-taker in the competition last year, helped his team to consecutive victories after beating Kent last week.

    Essex batted first when the County Championship match got under way this past Saturday but could only manage 262 before being dismissed.

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    The Surrey batting lineup, though, was bamboozled from the outset of their first innings as Harmer made immediate inroads, with them slumping to 187 all out.

    It provided the defending champions with a decent 75-run lead as Essex entered for their second innings, but again they struggled to build some decent partnerships as Surrey bowled them out for 261 this time around.

    It meant the men from The Oval had to chase 337 runs for victory with more than a day’s play remaining, but again Harmer struck early as he removed Surrey’s captain and opener, Mark Stoneman, before the close of play on Monday afternoon.

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    The right-arm off-break bowler, however, continued to rip through the Surrey lineup on Tuesday as he picked up key wickets at critical stages of the day to halt Surrey’s quest of reaching their target.

    Harmer would eventually wrap up proceedings in his 35th over of the innings as Surrey were dismissed for 167, with the South African walking away as man of the match.

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    Andre Huisamen