<p><strong>South Africa confident about Vernon Philander's in time recovery - Cricket News Update</strong></p>
<p>The South African cricket team management is hopeful that injured seam bowler, Vernon Philander, will be fit in time for the second Test of the three-match series against Sri Lanka, starting in Durban on Monday, December 26<sup>th</sup>, 2011.</p>
<p>The 26-year-old right-arm medium pacer, who made his debut in Test cricket last month against Australia, suffered a mild strain to his left knee while bowling in the nets at a pre-match practice session on Saturday, December 24<sup>th</sup>.</p>
<p>The South African cricket team manager Mohammed Moosajee, confirmed the injury to Philander, and told media reporters that the bowler had been provided with the necessary treatment and the management is hopeful that he will be completely fit ahead of the
Durban Test, commencing on Monday.</p>
<p>"The injury was classified as a mild strain and Philander will be treated overnight with ice, compression and more physiotherapy, and he will have his knee strapped," said Moosajee while speaking to media reporters on Saturday. "Right now, we're still confident
he will be fine for the Test," he added further.</p>
<p>Philander, 26, had stunned the selectors and fans with a startling performance on his debut, claiming eight Australian wickets, including a five-wicket haul in the second Australian innings, which saw the tourists fall to their lowest total this century.
They were bowled out for 47 runs.</p>
<p>The 26-year-old bowling all-rounder has played three Tests so far and has 24 wickets to his name at an average of 12.37. In the last Test against Sri Lanka, the bowler claimed 10 wickets for 102 runs.</p>
<p>South Africa won the first Test of the three-match series by an innings and 81 runs, and are currently leading the Test series 1-0. The Proteas are favourites to win the second Test against Sri Lanka, who have been struggling since the ICC World Cup 2011
earlier this year.</p>
<p>The South Africans do not have an encouraging record at Kingsmead, Durban. They have lost the last three Tests played there. But the Proteas vice captain, AB de Villiers, has said that his team was eager to break the losing streak at Durban by emulating
their Centurion Test performance against the struggling Sri Lankans.</p>
<p>"We haven't been playing good cricket here of late. We want to turn that around and win this Test match. It's something that we have talked about," he said. </p>
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