Simon Harmer has been voted the Men’s PCA Player of the Month for August after an excellent month on the white-ball stage.
Harmer scored more points than any other men’s domestic player in the PCA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Rankings during the last month with 112, and the public agreed as they confirmed him as the August winner with 54% of the vote.
It’s the Essex man’s second award of the season after he also claimed the prize in May. Matt Critchley (April), Harry Brook (June) and Tom Hartley (July) have also won a men’s award this season.
Speaking on the award, Harmer explained how he has been able to thrive on the white-ball stage throughout August: “I’ve always excelled in four-day cricket just because of the way I stack up as a bowler, but I also really enjoy the challenges of white-ball cricket. To consistently bowl well throughout the month and the whole season in all three formats is really pleasing.
“We did well to make it to the semi-final of the Royal London Cup. We hadn’t played any 50-over cricket since 2019 so it was nice to be able to contribute to our run.
“Our game plan was to stop the opposition in the middle of the game between overs 10-40, and I was very pleased to be able to fulfil that role for us throughout the tournament.
“We were bitterly disappointed that we couldn’t see it through but, having spent a bit of time off the field with the Glamorgan boys, I’m extremely happy for them and that they were the ones to win it.
“From a personal perspective, I was disappointed to miss out on The Hundred after being picked initially, but that’s life. I’m hoping that I’ve put in enough noteworthy white-ball performances this year to put myself in the frame for next season’s Hundred and beyond.”
In recent years, Essex have become accustomed to fighting for the top honours towards the back end of the season. This year, however, Harmer admits that he and his side have had to establish some new goals for the last month of the domestic season.
“We want to win Division Two which we’re playing in at the moment. It wasn’t ideal that we didn’t make it into Division One but we’ve only got ourselves to blame. We can all agree that we weren’t at our best.
“We need to make the best of a bad situation and finish this season strong, so if there is a change back to a two divisional structure then we can make sure we’re in the top division from next season. We’ve always come from behind to finish seasons strongly so we need to make sure we do that once again this year.”
One thing that has stayed the same, however, is seeing Harmer’s name at the top of the PCA MVP Rankings. The 32-year-old currently has a healthy lead at the summit of the cross-format Overall MVP, and he is looking to make it three wins in three years after claiming the award in both 2019 and 2020.
“I’m aware that guys like Craig Overton, who has been amazing for the past few years, miss games through England duty, but if I can put in strong performances for Essex then winning the MVP is always a nice bonus. It’s a great reflection at the end of the season to look back and see how you’ve gone against some seriously talented players all around the country.
“I don’t know if anyone’s done three from three so to be the first to do it would be incredible!”
