JOIN USSouth Africa’s Vernon Philander has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain and the paceman has been ruled out of Proteas’ next game against West Indies on Friday in Sydney. Philander could bowl only four overs in the match against India on Sunday and the subsequent MRI scans on Monday confirmed the injury.
Proteas team manager, Mohammed Moosajee, said the injured bowler will require minimum one week to recover. “Vernon sustained a Grade 1 hamstring strain which was confirmed by the scans done in Sydney on Monday. The recovery period for a hamstring strain normally takes a week to 10 days which makes him unavailable for the match against the West Indies in Sydney on Friday.”
Moosajee, however, felt it was too early to say if Philander will be available for the match against Ireland in Canberra next week, and that the all-rounder will be given the best opportunity to recover to full fitness.
“The Ireland match, as we speak, is eight days away,” he said. “With the recovery period being a week to 10 days, we have to give him every opportunity to make sure that he can be available.
At the same time we don’t want to be foolish by taking short-cuts, we will go through the usual treatment protocols and the return-to-play protocols. If he passes all the fitness tests and is symptom free going into the Ireland game he may play but at this stage it is too early to tell.”