‘We need to set an example for those watching,’ says Philander

“There’s a lot happening in this game!” was Vernon Philander’s wry comment as South Africa finished the second day of the first Test against England with the upper hand, leading by 175 runs with six second-innings wickets remaining.

Apart from wickets though, very little else happened while Philander was bowling as his extraordinary figures of 14.2-8-16-4, including five successive maidens at the start of his spell, led the way as England were bowled out for 181, giving the Proteas a sizeable 103-run first-innings lead. Philander had also played an important role with the bat as his 35 helped them to 284 all out.

Philander’s tremendous bowling exploits would have been the first point of discussion after the second day’s play, were it not for Jofra Archer getting away with successive beamers at Anrich Nortje to end the penultimate over of the day, with South Africa going to stumps on 72 for four.

Archer attempted to bowl a knuckle-ball at Nortje but it came out wrong and flew straight at the batsmen’s torso, forcing the nightwatchman to dive for cover. The umpires signalled no-ball and the fast bowler was quite rightly warned.

The 24-year-old then inexplicably tried the same delivery again, getting it wrong again and this time the danger was even greater as it flew straight at Nortje’s head. Square-leg umpire Paul Reiffel initially extended his arm to signal no-ball, which would have meant the bowler was banned from bowling for the rest of the innings having already received a warning, but then sheepishly withdrew it. England were aghast, with Archer immediately seeming to plead with the umpires.

Proteas captain Faf du Plessis looked most displeased and the umpires had barely returned to their room after the close of play when South African manager Volvo Masubelele and Du Plessis entered to get clarification, closely followed by coach Mark Boucher.

Match referee Andy Pycroft declined to comment to the media, saying any comment had to come from the International Cricket Council. Philander chose his words carefully after the day’s play, but his feelings were clear.

“It was interesting, but the umpires have to deal with it and hopefully they make the right call. If you’re at square-leg and you call no-ball, you should stand your ground. And at no stage did the umpires seem to reverse that call. Test cricket is the finest format so maybe the bowler shouldn’t be trying silly things.

“But it’s plain and simple and we need to be setting an example for those looking at the game. You have to make the right call, are we going to tolerate it in another game or are we going to stop it right there?” Philander said.

Unsurprisingly, it is not the first time in his superbly miserly career that Philander has opened the bowling with five maidens, and his efforts on Friday were a celebration of the simple virtues of line and length. And of course, his magnificent skills when it comes to moving the ball off the seam.

“It was tough to score on the pitch and I knew I just had to bowl in the right areas from when I batted. I was looking forward a bit to bowling on it. It was just about consistently hitting the right area, and I last bowled five maidens upfront some time back. I was really angry when the first boundary was scored off me. But it’s nice when the ball is coming out nicely and even better when you bowl the opposition out cheaply,” the 34-year-old said.

Philander, who confirmed he will be joining Somerset when he retires from international cricket at the end of the series, said if South Africa could get more than 300 ahead then they would be in position to break open the kegs of celebration win a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

“I only have a few Tests left so I wanted to make the most of it! My retirement was not an overnight decision, I’ve made it and now I must live by it. We have to start well in the morning and if we can get a lead of 300-plus then that should be a safe zone,” Philander said.

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