Philander back in South African squad

South African seamer Philander, who did not play the second Test against New Zealand due to a hamstring injury, has recovered and is a part of 13-member squad for the upcoming Test Series against Pakistan. He would definitely play a vital role in the South African team and is capable of delivering even on a flat surface. His inclusion strengthens the pace-attack of South Africa and Pakistan would indeed face problems against the Proteas’ brutal pace-attack.

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia’s selection convenor Andrew Hudson has given full confidence to the squad for the Test series against Pakistan. “We have given a full vote of confidence to the squad of 13 that did duty in the recent Sunfoil Series against New Zealand”.

“We are very happy with the job that Rory did against New Zealand when Vernon dropped out, while Jacques provides us with a lot of experience as the cover batsman. We have quite a few inexperienced batsmen in our top order and we feel that a bit of extra experience will be useful, should the need arise.”

It’s important for South Africa that their top-order batsmen should show some patience and bat as they have quite a few inexperienced players in the middle order as Andrew Hudson pointed out. If they can put a decent score on the board, they have the bowling attack that can rattle Pakistani’s top-order. It will be interesting to see how the Proteas’ top-order handles Pakistani pacers.