Vernon Philander on the Lord’s Honours Board and the Proteas claiming the World No 1 Test ranking
SA v England, Third Test, August 16-20 Lord’s 2012
Philander 5/30
To be honest before playing at Lord’s the Honours board didn’t really faze me, but arriving at the ground walking through those impressive halls and seeing those names up there … legends of the game … that’s when it kind of hits you in realising what it would mean to be alongside those players. So, obviously it’s great to be amongst them.
You actually get goose bumps walking out to a standing ovation, and that’s just to start the day’s play, not even when you come back to the changeroom after having taken wickets or scored runs.
England had to bat a couple of overs before close on the fourth day’s play, and I obviously got Cookie and Strauss, and from there they were pretty much on the back foot. Those wickets getting them out the night before set us up for that dramatic last day. We always thought the target we set at Lord’s was achievable if they started well with the bat, and that’s why it was so important that we had to start with the ball the next day too and it was great that I got some early wickets again on the last day.
But then England fought back, and (Matt) Prior and (Jonny) Bairstow played really well. They put together a really good partnership that brought them back into the game before Swanny (Graeme Swann) also played a few shots later on.
That raised a few eye-brows among us, but fortunately Swanny ran himself out that brought us back into the game again.
It was certainly a roller-coaster ride of emotions at the backend of that Test, where you’re happy one minute and the next you’re thinking are they going to get these runs!
But we managed to stay calm and it was great that I could knock over those last two poles (wickets). It was just such an awesome atmosphere. We had worked very hard to get to that World No 1 ranking because at the time we had an amazing record away from home.
To claim that World No 1 ranking at Lord’s – the home of cricket – is an unbelievable feeling that I will cherish forever.