Philander ruled out ahead of South Africa’s second test against Sri Lanka

South Africa will have to make do without the services of all-rounder Vernon Philander for their second test against Sri Lanka in Port Elizabeth, which starts on Thursday.

The 33-year-old sustained a hamstring injury during the first test in Durban last week. Following his injury, he was unable to take to the field on day 4. Cricket South Africa revealed via Twitter on Tuesday that he will play no part in the second test. The organisation also added that they will not be adding a replacement to the test squad.

Injury update from the Proteas camp: Vernon Philander will miss the second Castle Lager Test against Sri Lanka due to a hamstring injury. There will be no replacement add to the squad #SAvSL pic.twitter.com/gKiU2ZGexc

— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) February 19, 2019

The Proteas will have to win the next match if they want to avoid a test series defeat at home. Despite being on top of the game for the majority of the first test, they ended up stunningly losing the match, which has been branded as one of the greatest tests of the modern generation.

During Sri Lanka’s second innings, the visitors looked like they were headed for defeat, which was expected considering that team’s from the sub-continent generally do tend to struggle on pace-friendly South Africa wickets. However, a memorable 159 from Kusal Perera ensured that the visitors claimed an impressive victory.

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The loss of Philander will definitely be a major blow to the Proteas. He is one of the best all-rounders in test cricket and is South Africa’s seventh highest wicket-taker behind the likes of Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel, Allan Donald and all-time great Jacques Kallis.

Philander will either be replaced by batsman Theunis de Bruyn, Zubayr Hamza or young all-rounder Wiaan Mulder. After the test series, South Africa are set to play in five one-dayers and three T20s against Sri Lanka. The ODIs promise to be interesting as both sides will be using them as key preparation ahead of the 2019 World Cup.