Vernon Philander, the South Africa seamer, has recovered from the hamstring injury that had ruled him out of the second Test against New Zealand, and is part of the squad for the first Test against Pakistan in Johannesburg starting on February 1. The only player from the squad for the Tests against New Zealand who doesn’t find a mention for the first Test against Pakistan is seamer Ryan McLaren. “We have given a full vote of confidence to the squad of 13 that did duty in the recent Sunfoil Series against New Zealand,” Andrew Hudson, Cricket South Africa’s selection convenor, said. “Rory Kleinveldt and Jacques Rudolph will again provide the bowling and batting cover if necessary. At the moment there are no injury concerns. “We are very happy with the job that Rory did against New Zealand when Vernon dropped out, while Jacques provides us with a lot of experience as the cover batsman. We have quite a few inexperienced batsmen in our top order and we feel that a bit of extra experience will be useful should the need arise.” South Africa beat New Zealand comprehensively, winning both Tests, and play Pakistan in three Test matches, in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Centurion. South Africa squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Jacques Kallis, Rory Kleinveldt, Morne Morkel, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Jacques Rudolph, Dale Steyn.
