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Full name Paul Lee Harris
Born November 2, 1978, Salisbury (now Harare), Rhodesia
Current age 29 years 247 days
Major teams South Africa, Northerns, Titans, Warwickshire, Western Province
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox

Batting and fielding averages

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

Tests

116

7.25

421

27.55

ODIs

First-class

1027

13.87

List A

15*

7.50

53.57

Twenty20

5.00

62.50

Bowling averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Ave

Econ

Tests

2657

1169

5/73

7/131

30.76

2.63

69.9

ODIs

180

2/30

27.66

2.76

60.0

First-class

15946

7219

242

6/54

29.83

2.71

65.8

List A

1530

1096

3/25

30.44

4.29

42.5

Twenty20

276

336

3/18

24.00

7.30

19.7

Career statistics

Test debut

South Africa v India at Cape Town, Jan 2-6, 2007 scorecard

Last Test

India v South Africa at Kanpur, Apr 11-13, 2008 scorecard

Test statistics

ODI debut

Bangladesh v South Africa at Chittagong (CDS), Mar 9, 2008 scorecard

Last ODI

Bangladesh v South Africa at Dhaka (SBNS), Mar 14, 2008 scorecard

ODI statistics

First-class debut

1998/99

Last First-class

Middlesex v South Africans at Uxbridge, Jul 4-6, 2008 scorecard

List A debut

2002/03

Last List A

Bangladesh v South Africa at Dhaka (SBNS), Mar 14, 2008 scorecard

Twenty20 debut

Chilaw Marians Cricket Club v Titans at Leicester, Sep 16, 2005 scorecard

Last Twenty20

Warwickshire v Lancashire at Birmingham, Jul 18, 2007 scorecard

Slow left-armer Paul Harris is the latest man to be tasked with curing South African cricket's chief ailment - their continued failure to develop match-winning spinners at international level.

Tall and not unlike the former England star Phil Tufnell in appearance and style, Harris eventually made it into the South African squad for the Boxing Day Test against India in 2006.

The selectors had previously ignored his haul of 49 wickets in the 2005-06 SuperSport Series season, which no bowler bettered, and faced the prospect of him being lost to South African cricket when he played eight successful matches for Warwickshire as a Kolpak player in mid-2006. It was only after Nicky Boje stormed into retirement, finally disenchanted with his country's treatment of spinners, that the call went out for the 28-year-old.

Harris has made his name with the Titans under former Pakistan coach Richard Pybus and is a departure from the usual South African policy of choosing spinners who can also contribute with the bat and in the field. But he has been an integral part of his franchise's success at first-class level, combining accuracy, turn and bounce to claim higher honours.

Harris was born in Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia, in November 1978 but grew up in Cape Town, where his progress as a spinner was blocked by the former internationals Paul Adams and Claude Henderson.

Having made his first-class debut for the Western Province B side in 1998-99, he played a single match for the A side in 2000-01 and 2001-02 before moving to Northerns. He only booked his place in the side when Pybus became coach in 2005-06 and calls for the national selectors to consider him soon grew in volume. Harris gave up his Kolpak status at Warwickshire (where before his Test debut he wasn't classified as an overseas player) to play for South Africa in the New Years' Test against India. He took four wickets in the first innings - including one Sachin Tendulkar - and will perhaps be remembered most for his nagging, over-the-wicket line that decidedly put the Indian batsmen in a shell, and helped South Africa wrestle back the initiative. He showed great promise in 2007, picking up 12 wickets at 20.66 against Pakistan in October, and giving South Africa hope in the left-arm spin department.
Ken Borland June 2008