A video of Simon Harmer’s remarkable dismissal of Mason Crane resurfaced on social media today after a group of official cricket accounts – and Spanish football giants Atletico Madrid – interacted in a thread, sharing moments where cricketers have displayed impressive footwork.
The Twitter thread began with the official County Championship account sharing a slow-motion video of Lancashire leg-spinner performing a handful of keepie-uppies in Lancashire’s Bob Willis Trophy clash against Warwickshire. Nottinghamshire replied with a video of Liam Patterson-White showcasing a similar set of ball skills before Essex commented with a piece of footwork that actually effected a dismissal.
The moment came in Essex’s home County Championship clash against Hampshire in 2019, a game dominated by the off-spin of Simon Harmer.
The tall South African off-spinner finished the contest with remarkable match figures of 12-61 in an innings victory for Essex in a year in which they eventually claimed the County Championship title. Harmer owed the match-clinching wicket to work of Adam Wheater behind the stumps, whose remarkable intervention unfortunately did not feature on the final scorecard.
A Harmer off-break induced an inside edge from Crane that cannoned off Wheater’s torso before heading towards the turf. Milliseconds before the ball should have made contact with the ground, Wheater’s outstretched left boot flicked it in the air toward Essex’s 39-year-old skipper Ryan ten Doeschate who was nobly stationed at short-leg where he took the simplest of catches.
In a strange turn of events, Atletico Madrid’s official English Twitter account responded approvingly to the three videos.
You can watch the wicket below:
Adam Wheater says hello 👋 pic.twitter.com/vs8yOQTtwt
— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) September 30, 2021
