Philander was chosen for the emerging players tournament in Australia, and took 3 for 30, as well as hitting 59 off 50 balls in the final against New Zealand A. South Africa would go on to win the tournament.

Philander has played English county cricket, firstly for Middlesex in April & May 2008, Somerset in April & May 2012, and Kent in July 2013.

International debut

Philander made his ODI debut on his 22nd birthday, against Ireland at Belfast. He took 4 for 12, a match-winning performance.

Philander enjoyed a tremendous start to his international career. On 9 November 2011, Philander made his Test debut against Australia, and was awarded Man of the Match after taking 5–15 in Australia's second innings, in which Australia was dismissed for 47, that country's lowest completed test innings total since 1902. He was also Man of the Series, with 14 wickets at 13.92 and two five-wicket hauls across the two tests.

The following month he took five wickets in each innings in the first test of South Africa's home series against Sri Lanka. He became the fifth player in history to take five wickets in an innings in each of his first three tests. These performances led to him being awarded a national contract by Cricket South Africa in January 2012.

Through ranks

Philander continued his sensational form in the series in New Zealand which began in March 2012. He picked up five wickets in the first test at Dunedin, which ended a draw. He followed this up with a match-winning performance in the second test at Hamilton where he picked up 4–70 and 6–44 for the second 10-wicket haul of his career.

In the third test at Wellington, he excelled once again, picking up 6–81 in the first innings. During the course of this innings, he bowled New Zealand batsman Doug Bracewell for his 50th test wicket in only his 7th match, and thus became the second-fastest bowler ever to claim 50 wickets. The only bowler to get to the mark faster was Charles Turner who did it in six matches.^[7] He went wicketless in the second innings as New Zealand held on for a draw.^[8]

In October 2012, alongside Dale Steyn and Morné Morkel, Philander was part of a South African pace attack bowling coach and former test cricketer Allan Donald called the best the country had ever produced.^[9]

In 2013, he was one of the South African bowlers who bowled out New Zealand for 45, the lowest Test Match total of the millennium. As of May 2013 he was rated by the ICC as the second-best bowler and the third-best all-rounder in the world. The best bowler and all-rounder being fellow South Africans Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis, respectively.

On 20 December 2013, Philander took his 100th test wicket in the first test against India in Johannesburg. He needed only 19 matches to reach his 100 wickets, the joint-sixth-fastest ever. Earlier the same day he scored an anchor-innings of 59 runs (fr