One of the best South African bowlers, Vernon Philander bid adieu to international cricket after playing the fourth Test match against England last month. He has revealed the reason that forced him to move away from the game. Philander was upset with the chaos in the team management and administration and couldn’t take more.
“As a player, you get to the point where you’ve had enough. CSA’s former management only started looking after themselves, the players were the last ones they worried about. Too many things went wrong in the last while, I had to decide what the best road is ahead for me.
Then I decided to retire. I am 35 now, with a decent career behind me, but I would have considered playing longer if not for the chaos in our cricket administration,” Philander was quoted as saying in the Afrikaans-language newspaper Rapport.
However, he feels time would change after the arrival of Graeme Smith, who is the first CSA director of cricket.
“I blatantly and openly told the coach (Russell Domingo) that the best player should play. He told me: ‘You are the best player for the day, you’re playing. But they were clearly not open and honest with me and Kyle. There were definitely things going on behind closed doors,” Philander revealed.