Representing England in near future off the table, reveals Simon Harmer
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South Africa’s Simon Harmer, who took a Kolpak deal and currently plies his trade with Essex, revealed that the visa implications in the UK mean that him representing England in the near future is off the table. Last season, Harmer led Essex to both the T20 Blast and County championship titles.
After a not-so-successful start to his Test career with South Africa, Simon Harmer, in 2016, made the tough call of giving up his international career with the Proteas to take a Kolpak deal with Essex. The move has turned out to be a charm for the off-spinner as apart from establishing himself as the best spinner on the circuit, Harmer has also become a force to be reckoned with in terms of captaincy, with him leading Essex to the Vitality Blast and being an integral member of the County Championship winning team as well.
Unsurprisingly and understandably, Harmer’s rapid ascendancy to the top in domestic cricket in England has invoked talks about him potentially representing England in the future, perhaps even getting fast-tracked like a Jofra Archer. But while admitting that he would one day love to get a full British passport, the 31-year-old revealed that him playing for England in the near future is pretty much off the cards and went on to cite all Kolpak players being on a tier 5 visa as the reason for the same.
"English cricket has given me the opportunity to become a better person and a better player. So I would ultimately like to get a British passport and naturalised in the UK, especially for my future family. But there's a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of dead ends at the moment. So I think in terms of playing for England, as far as I'm aware, that's off the table for the foreseeable future,” Harmer told ESPNCricinfo.
"It started in the press, with people who didn't really know how it all worked saying that I'd become England qualified in 2020, and was the plan? Or can we get him involved? So I think it's all talk. The way that the visas are structured at the moment, the power lies with the ECB. All the Kolpak players are currently on a tier five visa, which means that you would have to be in the UK for 10 years before you could apply for indefinite leave to remain. There is the possibility of moving to a tier two visa but the ECB doesn't want to explore that.
UK exiting the EU means that Harmer, who has a contract with Essex until 2022, could feature for the club as an overseas player from next season, meaning it could pave the way for an international return. The off-spinner, however, stated that a lot of things would need to go right for him to consider an international return - including communication from Cricket South Africa’s end - and attested that he was fully committed to Essex.
"I think there'd need to be a lot of discussions between Cricket South Africa and what they were willing to put on the table before I would consider that option but it's still a long way off yet and a lot can change.
"There haven't been any proactive discussions from Cricket South Africa's side about what would happen. And obviously, I don't know how happy Essex would be if there was a three-month tour during the English summer, to just release me and be like, yep, you can go. So I think my main responsibility lies for the foreseeable future with Essex."
