Philander, who only recently returned to the field following a recurring ankle injury, sustained a hairline fracture to his thumb while playing for the Durban Heat in the Mzansi Super League.

This leaves the Proteas with only Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Duanne Olivier as their three frontline seamers after Lungi Ngidi was ruled out of the series with a knee injury.

"If you look at where we are, Steyn, Rabada and Olivier become very important to us," said the South African coach, Ottis Gibson.

"We just want to manage them as best we can. We've seen how Dale's been going. 

"I don't want to say we've seen a transformation because he's always been a top player, but he's back to full fitness and performing like the player of old. 

KG as always is very important to us.

"We've looked at a few bowling options over the past 14 months and we've got what we feel now is a very good bowling attack and group.

 "You've got Steyn, Rabada, Philander, Ngidi and Olivier, who's been in-and-out, but always in our thinking. 

"That's the making of a good attack in any form of the game. My job now is to keep them fit and fresh for them to be at their peak at international level."

The first of three Tests in the series gets underway next week Wednesday.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport