During the recent match against Middlesex, both Jamie Porter and Simon Harmer reached the landmark of fifty first-class wickets for the season.
The pair were the second and third Division One bowlers to reach the milestone respectively, with Porter now being the leading red-ball wicket-taker in the country.
Porter brought up his fiftieth wicket with one of the balls of the season, pitched up and nipping away to uproot Sam Robson’s off stump. His figures of 6/34 in Middlesex’s first innings were his best of the season and his fourth five-wicket haul of the campaign.
In total, Porter has 53 first-class wickets in 2023 at an average of just 17.39. It’s the 6th time Porter has taken fifty first-class wickets in a year and he’s done it with his lowest average since taking 85 wickets at 16.74 in 2018.
Jamie Porter: 53 wickets at 17.49
Harmer also brought up his fiftieth wicket during his best spell of the season, ending with 5/43. It was also his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket for Essex in 2023.
Harmer’s tally of 51 wickets has come at an average of 28.33 and continues his remarkable record of having taken 50 wickets in a season in every year of county cricket he has played in, with the exception of the covid-affected 2020 season.
This is the 8th occasion Harmer has taken 50 first-class wickets in a season, two of those have come in South Africa and six in England for Essex.
Simon Harmer: 51 wickets at 28.33
