Picking an unwell Vernon Philander was a mistake, says Faf du Plessis

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis’ decision to pick an unwell Vernon Philander for the 3^rd Test against South Africa did not work out expected. While the captain admitted to the fact that the move proved to be costly for South Africa, Du Plessis explained why he opted to go with Philander.

Du Plessis mentioned that Philander was not fully fit for the game and he also felt a bit nauseous on the first day. However, he was included in the side because of the fact that as a Test player you are never perfectly alright. The first two days of the Test was pretty harsh for Philander as the player had to go off the field frequently due to his illness. He finally went to the hospital on Day 2 in the evening. The 32-year-old was kept at the hospital for the night but was released the next morning. Despite being in a very feeble condition, Philander was able to bat the next day.

What Du Plessis said:

“Vern [Philander] felt a bit nauseous the day of the game but the decision was still to stick with him because Vern on day one at 50 or 60% will still be better than most – he proved that with the way that he bowled when he still got two wickets,” said du Plessis. “But the expectation was that he’d get better on day two. The fact he wasn’t [well] was a big loss for us, because he didn’t bowl enough in that first innings when there was an opportunity and you wanted your best bowlers to be there.”

According to Du Plessis, Philander’s absence allowed England to score a 100 runs more in the first inning. He also blamed the other bowlers for not stepping up when needed. Ben Stokes scored a gutsy hundred on Day 2 and England were able to post a total of 353 on the day as Philander had to spend most of the time out of the field on that day.

“Everyone thought that on day two he’d be fine after getting a good night’s rest and some fluids and food back in the system,” said du Plessis. “Day two he was still the same and we needed him to bowl. As I said in a Test match you’re not always going to be 100% – just look at Morne Morkel’s toes and he’ll tell you that he bowls with them no matter what they look like. We were expecting more from him from an overs point of view. The fact that he didn’t get better, then he went to hospital to get some energy back – that first innings we really missed him.”