Essex hero Harmer hails an "incredible win" against Middlesex (From Braintree and Witham Times)

ESSEX hero Simon Harmer hailed an "incredible win" after taking nine wickets to stun reigning champions Middlesex.

The South African off-spinner inspired his side to a dramatic penultimate-over victory against Middlesex to extend their lead at the top of the Specsavers County Championship to 29 points.

He finished with match figures of 14 for 172 - his second 14-wicket haul in successive matches and his fourth successive five-wicket return - and raised his season’s tally to 47 Championship wickets.

Speaking after the innings and 34-run success, Harmer said: “It’s not going to get much better than this.

"You just need to ride the wave – they don’t come around that often. We will enjoy tonight and have a few beers.

“It’s an incredible win for the club and it puts us in phenomenal position going into the last six games of the season.

"We’ve done a lot of hard work, a lot of hard graft and been on top of our game.

"We’ve come out on top in the last ten minutes of the day today.

"These are the moments you play cricket for. It makes all the hard graft worth it.

“It has been a good week – to put it lightly! You can’t really put into words.

"Sometimes things go your way. I’ll probably never take four five-fors in a row ever again and I’ll never take 28 wickets in two games ever again. It's just been one of those weeks.

“You have to take it while you can because I can guarantee you that I’ll get back to South Africa, play at the Wanderers and I’ll be playing on an absolute road and getting smashed all over the place.

“The pink ball keeps the batter guessing because it takes the sweep out of their game because it is bouncing and you have to play off the back foot or whatever. "I know their gameplan was to try and play me off the back foot, so I was trying to get them to cover the front foot and I knew I was winning it. I knew I was in the game.”

Of Nick Compton’s century, which at one point looked like it might help Middlesex salvage a draw, Harmer added: “There is a lot that makes his innings special.

"I think he was under a lot of pressure. His place in the team has been under pressure and today, despite all that, he played well and showed a lot of resilience when players around him couldn’t find the same game-plan he did.

"He batted incredibly well and was unfortunate to get out towards the end there. It broke it open for us.”

When Dan Lawrence trapped Toby Roland-Jones lbw it denied Harmer the chance of taking all ten wickets.

However, the South African said: “He came and put his arm around me and said ‘I’m really sorry’.

“But when we got to the end there, there’s nine minutes left, eight minutes left, seven minutes left, what’s going to happen?

"They’re taking their time to get out there, you take every wicket you can get because ultimately the win is what we wanted.

"If they were nine down and I had nine wickets, and we drew, it wouldn’t mean nearly as much as it does.

"It was a vital wicket that he got and I was chuffed for him.”

Essex captain Ryan ten Doeschate said: “To take 14 wickets in a game, nine in an innings, and that’s not even mentioning the chances he created, was phenomenal.

"We’ve been waiting for a holding spinner and he did that for the first two months of the season.

"Now, with the good weather around and the tracks taking turn, he is the bowler and the guy we look to to be our match-winner.

"I can’t praise these last two performances enough.

“There were plenty of chances today and the belief never really went away.

"Those last 45 minutes, when we still needed four wickets, normally you don’t get the job done, so to get it done is a massive relief.”

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