Bowling the same length over and over, landing a ball on the seam consistently and moving the delivery either way, very few bowlers in world cricket have these skills, and South Africa’s Vernon Philander is amongst the elite list.
Philander recently announced that he would retire from international cricket after the ongoing Test series against England.
The right-arm bowler, meanwhile, kicked off the Boxing Day Test in a grand style. Philander played a handy knock of 35 off 81 balls and took his team’s total to 284.
After contributing with the bat, Philander began his bowling spell and did what he does best.
The English team started their first innings after a break and soon got a taste of the magical bowler from South Africa. Philander drew the first blood in the form of Rory Burns, and it was a dream delivery for any bowler.
Philander pitched the ball at a right length with a hint of swing, and that was enough to take on outside edge.
Burns looked helpless as he had to play the delivery. He was surprised by the extra bounce as well. The English opener put his bat in front of the ball, but its angle squared him up. He was dismissed after scoring just 9 runs.
Here’s the video:
RJ Burns c †de Kock b Philander 9 (15m 15b 2×4 0x6) SR: 60.00.
Complete the sentence:
That delivery was simply___________❓#ProteaFire #SAvENG pic.twitter.com/ahKsbFUKhu— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) December 27, 2019