Cricket
Philander's back to having a ball
His limited-overs constraints have been his test trump cards
When Vernon Darryl Philander made his first-class debut for Western Province against KwaZulu-Natal as a fresh-faced 18-year-old in the 2003/04 SuperSport Series final, Graeme Smith had just crafted the first of his four successful fourth-innings tons against New Zealand in Wellington. However, Quinton Friend was there to witness an inconspicuous entry for a talented schoolboy cricketer.
"He's been one of those guys that from the start you always felt that he was going to be one of those stand-out guys who was going to play at the highest level. I suspect for a long period of time, he thought he'd never crack it because he'd been playing first-class cricket for quite a long time before finally making the step up. Ever since his first-class career started, it's not like anything has changed, he's just continued where he started," an ecstatic Friend said.
While Western Province went on to win, Philander was a third-change bowler in a match where one Hashim Mahomed Amla (79* and 72) was starting to throw around his considerable weight...
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