End of a love story as Table Mountain bids farewell to its favourite son

In simple words, Cape Town is everything that we all want in life. Be it some laidback time near the foothills of Table Mountain, or delving deep into the heritage with excellent art galleries, hip bars, and design-savvy shops in the City Centre, it is a city that keeps on giving. It is a city that also holds one of the most iconic cricket venues in the world. 

53 wickets at the venue at an average of a shade over 18 are not the figures of your average cricketer and Philander was never your average cricketer. There are so many matches where he dominated the opposition, but nothing captured my imagination as much as his six-wicket burst against India in 2018 and another 5 for 15 against Australia on his Test debut as South Africa won by eight wickets despite being bowled out for 96. These were two performances that told the world how good he was and how South Africa were the ultimate losers for delaying his arrival on a stage that he should have been of him long ago. 

Philander kept on landing good length balls, nothing to drive, nothing too full, questioning the Indian skipper’s forward defense. In isolation, it could have been the battle of the summer in Australia where Josh Hazlewood kept Kohli’s front-foot busy and Mitchell Starc made some early inroads with Pat Cummins playing the major role. But it was Newlands, the scene was something else, and keeping the best batsman of the opposition’s front-foot busy is the best thing you can do. If anything, unlike Australia, a bowler gets rewarded for doing the tough job time and time again in South Africa and think what, the Big Vern came with a total of six wickets to his name, including the big fish Kohli.

As far as sheer averages go, the Bullring had seen the fury of Philander more than Newlands. In seven Tests alone in Johannesburg, the 34-year-old had more success, averaging 15.69 - the best among everyone who has a minimum of 20 wickets. The Bullring is a buzzing place, unlike the quaint atmosphere of Cape Town, and it doesn’t help his style of bowling but Philander didn’t mind putting up a show. But if the home is where the heart is, he always wanted to return to comforts of Newlands where he learnt the crafts of the game, honed it and eventually rose to become one of Western Province's cult hero.

Yesterday, when things seemed bleak for South Africa, with the ghosts of everything wrong with their cricket starting to them yet again, it was Big Vern who put up the final fight. He battled hard, this time with the bat, as if his life was dependent on the match. He eventually failed as a Ben Stokes back of a length delivery found a faint edge off his glove to bring an end to his innings. But like most things in his nine-year-long Test career for South Africa, he gave it his all.

It was fitting that the Newlands saw the fight of the Big Vern for one last time, with its grandeur and few pints of beer. The Newlands faithful would have wished the fireworks to light up the sky, though, to salute the man who has always been there - resolute and uncompromising, inducing yet another batting collapse.