Vernon Philander: South Africa's next big all-rounder?

Over the last 25 years, South Africa have established themselves as one of the powerhouses in world cricket. In addition to producing many brilliant batsmen and bowlers, some of the sport’s finest all-rounders have come out of South Africa that include the likes of Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, and Lance Klusener.

Around 10 days back, South African skipper Faf Du Plessis stated that fast bowler Vernon Philander has what it takes to fill Jacques Kallis’ shoes. The 32-year old put in a sensational performance in the second Test of the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy at Trent Bridge by scoring 54 and 42 in the first and second innings respectively, coming to bat at no.7 in both innings.

With the ball, Philander took 2/48 in the first innings followed by 3/24 in the second innings as England were bowled out for 133, handing South Africa the win which has levelled the series at 1-1. Philander was adjudged the Man of the Match for his superb all-round effort.

In the series-deciding Test at the Oval, Philander has so far taken 2/46 from 17 overs with England being dismissed for 353.

Impressive ODI debut followed by poor performances

Philander picked up four wickets on his ODI debut

Philander had an impressive debut for South Africa against Ireland at Belfast in 2007 and bowled a spell of 4/12. A few months later, he bowled an economical spell of 2/15 in 8 overs against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo. As a result, he was selected in South Africa’s squad to play the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 which his country would be hosting.

Philander, 22, picked up two wickets each in both group games against West Indies and Bangladesh. However, he did not take any wickets during the Super 8s and the hosts were out by virtue of a lower net run-rate.

Following the World T20, Philander did not take any wickets for the next few matches and was consequently dropped from both the ODI and T20 teams after South Africa’s Tour of England in 2008.

Sensational Test debut and becoming one of South Africa’s key players in the format

Big Vern has become one of South Africa's finest Test players

Three years later in 2011, Philander was chosen in South Africa’s Test squad for their home series against Australia and he made his Test debut in the first Test at Cape Town where he took 3/63 in the first innings with Phil Hughes being his first Test scalp. In the second innings, Philander bowled a fabulous spell of 5/15 as Australia were skittled for only 47, their lowest Test score in 109 years and their fourth lowest Test score overall. South Africa won the match and Philander was adjudged the Man of the Match.

In the second Test at Johannesburg, Philander took another 5-wicket haul and was eventually adjudged the Player of the Series. Ever since, Philander has become a regular in the Test side and also came back to the ODI team, playing the 2015 World Cup where he picked up four wickets at an average of 34.

Philander has been a regular in the Test team since his debut and over the past 6 years, has delivered a number of stellar performances for South Africa with the ball that include his match spells of 10/102 against Sri Lanka at Centurion and 10/114 against New Zealand at Hamilton which comprised his best bowling figures of 6/44 in Test Match cricket. Philander is currently South Africa’s 7th highest wicket-taker in Tests with 171 wickets at an average of 22.14.

Abilities as an all-rounder

Philander has put in some really good performances with the bat lately

The 32-year old has also played a few crucial innings with the bat while coming down to bat at no.8 or no.9, scoring 1176 runs at quite a decent average of 26.13, hitting seven fifties. Philander has proven to be a very useful lower order batsman for South Africa who can play according to the situation and can chip in with vital runs when the team needs it.

Hence, it isn’t much of a surprise that Du Plessis has opined Philander of becoming the new Jacques Kallis. Although, given Philander’s age of 32, he does not have too many years of cricket left in him but having gradually improved as a batsman (somewhat similar to Ravichandran Ashwin’s development as a batsman), we can all expect him to be the all-rounder South Africa need and deliver for the Proteas as much as he can.

Extra cover: Satire: 5 possible newspaper headlines if Kevin Pietersen plays for South Africa in 2019

As far as becoming the next Jacques Kallis is concerned, he already has a lot more Test wickets (171) than Kallis had in his first six years (105). So, Big Vern can surpass him in the bowling department and if his body can be up to the task, he might even surpass the likes of Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Allan Donald, and Makhaya Ntini to be the leading wicket-taker for South Africa in Tests.

To sum it all up, Vernon Philander has already taken his first steps in becoming an all-rounder and provided he keeps up his form, he could well become one of South Africa’s greatest all-rounders in the upcoming years.