Vernon Philander continuing his successful record at Lord’s by ending with 3-46 on day one against England, is Khalid Mohidin’s Play of the Day.
The South African seamer, who’s 7-78 at Lord’s helped the Proteas seal a series win against England in 2012, started off superbly in the first session against England on Thursday.
The Proteas seamer went into lunch with figures of 3-26 as SA rattled England at 84-4 in the first session.
ALSO READ: Philander’s triple strike leaves England in tatters
Despite missing SA’s warm-up match due to an ankle injury that he picked up in a county stint for Sussex, Philander shook off any doubts over his recovery by ripping through England’s top order.
The 32-year-old took full advantage of the warm, humid conditions to produce excellent swing bowling.
His first wicket came from a short-of-a-length delivery angled across ex-England captain Alastair Cook, who pushed away from his body finding an edge, which was snapped up by Quinton de Kock.
Philander’s second scalp was a tad fortunate, as a delivery that was pitched outside leg missed Keaton Jennings inside edge and thumped into his pad, but the South African-born opener passed on a review. DRS replays later showed that the umpire’s call would have been overturned, but Jennings walked back to the Pavilion for 8, with his side on 17-2 (5.2 overs).
Philander’s final wicket came from his specialist stock ball, full and straight, as it hit the seam and crashed into Jonny Bairstow’s pad, England pinned back at 76-4.
The right-arm seamer took his tally against England to 15 wickets and will aim to break the 167-run partnership between Joe Root (184) and Moeen Ali (61) early on day two.
ALSO READ: Proteas toil as Root scores 184
Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
