Vernon Darryl Philander (born 24 June 1985) is a South African cricket coach, commentator, and former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He was a right-handed bowling all-rounder; he had previously represented his country at under 19 level. He played for the

South Africa national cricket team The South Africa men's national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council. T ...

and Cape Cobras in South African domestic cricket. In December 2019, ahead of a Test series against England, Philander announced that the series would be his last series before retiring from international cricket.

Domestic career

Philander was chosen for the emerging players tournament in Australia, and took 3 for 30, as well as hitting 59 off 50 balls in the final against New Zealand A. South Africa would go on to win the tournament. Philander has played English county cricket, firstly for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

in April & May 2008,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

in April & May 2012, and

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in July 2013. In October 2018, Philander was named in

Durban Heat Durban Heat were a franchise team of the South African Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team were based at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban. Durban Heat played in the first two editions of the MLS in 2018 and 20 ...

's squad for the first edition of the

Mzansi Super League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

T20 tournament. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the

Cape Town Blitz Cape Town Blitz were a franchise team of the South African Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team was based at the Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town. Cape Town Blitz played in the first two editions of the MLS in 20 ...

team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In April 2021, he was named in Western Province's squad, ahead of the 2021–22 cricket season in South Africa.

International career

International debut

Philander made his ODI debut on his 22nd birthday, against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

at Belfast. He took 4 for 12, which went on to be a match-winning performance. Philander enjoyed a tremendous start to his international career. On 9 November 2011, Philander made his Test debut against Australia, and was awarded

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

after taking 5–15 in Australia's second innings, in which Australia was dismissed for 47, that country's lowest completed test innings total since 1902. He was also Man of the Series, with 14 wickets at 13.92 and two

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Takin ...

s across the two tests. The following month, Philander took five wickets in each innings in the first test of South Africa's home series against Sri Lanka. He became the fifth player in history to take five wickets in an innings in each of his first three tests. These performances led to him being awarded a national contract by

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa aka CSA is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South ...

in January 2012.

Through ranks

In the series in New Zealand which began in March 2012, Philander picked up five wickets in the first test at Dunedin, which ended a draw. He followed this up with a match-winning performance in the second test at Hamilton where he picked up 4–70 and 6–44 for the second 10-wicket haul of his career. In the third test at Wellington, Philander excelled once again, picking up 6–81 in the first innings. During the course of this innings, he bowled New Zealand batsman Doug Bracewell for his 50th test wicket in only his 7th match, and thus became the second-fastest bowler ever to claim 50 wickets. The only bowler to get to the mark faster was Charles Turner who achieved the feat in 1888. He went wicketless in the second innings as New Zealand held on for a draw. In October 2012, alongside Dale Steyn and Morné Morkel, Philander was part of a South African pace attack bowling coach and former test cricketer Allan Donald called the best the country had ever produced. In 2013, Philander was one of the South African bowlers who bowled out New Zealand for 45, the lowest Test match total of the millennium. On 20 December 2013, Philander took his 100th test wicket in the first test against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. He needed only 19 matches to reach his 100 wickets, the joint-sixth-fastest ever. Earlier the same day he scored an anchor-innings of 59 runs (from 86 balls), batting at number 8, showing off his versatility for the Proteas. These efforts led him to achieve the number 1 ranking in ICC Test Bowling Rankings for the year 2013. On 12 November 2016, Philander took his tenth five-wicket haul in Tests, during the second Test against Australia. Australia was bowled out for 85 runs, which was their lowest in a home Test in 32 years. This was also third time by Philander, in which the opposition has been dismissed for fewer than 100 and Philander has taken a five-for.

Retirement

In December 2019, Philander announced that the Test series against England would be his last international series before his retirement. He retired from international cricket after the series ended.

Coaching career

In September 2021, Philander was added to the Pakistan team's coaching staff for the T20 World Cup in the UAE.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Philander, Vernon 1985 births Living people Coloureds South African cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century South African sportsmen South African cricket commentators South African cricket coaches Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Western Province cricketers Devon cricketers Cape Cobras cricketers Middlesex cricketers Somerset cricketers South African expatriate cricketers in England Kent cricketers Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers South Western Districts cricketers Sussex cricketers Durban Heat cricketers Cape Town Blitz cricketers