Sunday Times
TELFORD VICE, Kandy
Cricket tells its truths when it thinks no-one is watching. Monday afternoon at Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, as both teams gripped the second test with knuckles white, was one of those times.
Vernon Philander flicked a delivery towards fine leg. One of the 10 Sri Lankans ranged like shark’s teeth around the bat in obsessive pursuit of SA’s last two wickets set off after the receding ball.
Two runs were there for the taking. Philander ran hard to the non-striker’s end, turned, and took a step or two back towards the business end - only to see Imran Tahir dead still and holding up a hand to stop the traffic.
For an instant, Philander, his shoulders set square, his chin jutted, was about to demand that second run. But he let Tahir have his way, and several tense minutes later SA forced the draw to win their first series in Sri Lanka since 1993.
Philander’s reaction to Tahir’s balk - his conviction that the responsibility for saving the match rested largely with him, his implicit insistence that he could and would get the job done - told us he had made the mental leap to genuine allrounderhood.
He was, at least in his own head, no longer a bowler who could bat a bit. In fact, that has been true for more than a year.
Philander batted for almost two hours for his 27 not out on Monday. Without that, SA would have lost the match and drawn the series.
They did lose to Australia at Newlands in March, but not because of Philander’s batting. In fact, his calm competence took SA to within 27 balls of drawing the match. It also earned him an unbeaten 51.
Against India at the Wanderers in December, he was locked and loaded on 25 not out when SA inexplicably whimped out of chasing down what would have been a world record victory target despite having three wickets in hand.
At Lord’s in August, 2012, Philander’s 61 and 35 kept SA on course for the win that would confirm them as cricket’s No. 1 test team.
His 74 against Pakistan in Centurion in February, 2013 went unheralded in the understandable fuss over Kyle Abbott’s 7/29 on debut.
In 33 test innings, 30 of them undertaken at No. 8 or lower in the order, Philander has batted for an hour or more 13 times, faced at least 50 balls a dozen times, kept his wicket nine times, and scored four half-centuries. And he has done all that with the attitude of a man who belongs at the batting crease.
“He surely has potential to be an allrounder asset to the side,” said Trevor Goddard, opened the batting 39 times in his 41 tests and bowled first change on 28 occasions.
“He was unlucky to have vital catches dropped in this (Sri Lankan) series, but he has the ability to bowl tightly and put pressure on the opposition, which is a great help to the other bowlers and of course the skipper.
“He seems to handle the bat well, has proved himself, and done a great job coming in as low as he does — perhaps greater opportunities lie ahead? He will take the break when it comes.”
Despite Philander not having earned a test cap under Mickey Arthur, the former SA coach thought he was capable of developing his batting.
“I firmly believe that Vernon can become a genuine allrounder,” Arthur said. “His technique is solid enough and he plays well off both the front and the back foot. He also has the ability to defend and attack off both the front and the back foot.
“His mindset to batting is good and he reads the situation really well. He must understand that being a genuine allrounder will bring extra expectation and pressure, but I am sure he can handle that.”
Could adjusting to that new reality be part of the reason why Philander has not taken a five-wicket haul for 21 test innings, considering he had nine after 28 innings?
It could. But we know he can bowl. And bat.
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