There was no doubt who South Africa's key man was on Wednesday, and it was no surprise. Dale Steyn was the one South African bowler who made the difference, ensuring the Proteas didn't waste as useful a toss as any team could hope to win with his four-wicket haul. Were it not for his class, Australia would have finished the day on top in spite of the fact that conditions were consistently in favour of the bowlers throughout the day.

Steyn aside, the lack of cricket among the regular Proteas bowlers showed. Jacques Kallis hit the right length three times in his first three overs, and gave Michael Clarke a leg-up in a superb innings that kept Australia in the game. Morne Morkel struggled for rhythm, and only showed the odd spark of brilliance, with his one wicket a below average return on a pitch that offered plenty of movement off the seam. Imran Tahir looked nervous, which was understandable to a degree, and started off bowling too flat, before reverting to loads of flight. Neither worked out.

In the middle session, Graeme Smith must therefore have been relieved to find some support for Steyn in the shape of Vernon Philander. Big Vern, as he's long been affectionately known in C365 Towers, has made for interesting following in recent years, and his return to the national side has been met by a mixed reaction. He certainly has the statistics to back him up, having taken 80 wickets in the last two seasons of the Supersport Series.

His detractors have either not been paying attention, or refuse to banish the memories of 2007 when a couple of dropped catches in the World Twenty20 made him the fall guy. With the Proteas expected to do well on home soil but ultimately falling short, Philander was an easy target. Those were suspicious times in South African cricket - days when the quota system was still in place and any player of colour brought into the national side immediately faced questions over how he had earned such a call-up. For Philander, it didn't help that he'd been brought into a squad from which Kallis, the hero of the people, had been omitted.

Whatever the merits of Philander's time in the national side in 2007, it seems churlish to begrudge him this chance. Despite being hounded out of the national side for more than two years, he has stuck to his game and returned a much better player. The regard in which he is now held by his peers was shown by the fact that he was handed the new ball ahead of Morne Morkel, and he showed why as he swung the ball throughout the day. He also showed his ability to move the ball into the right-hander off the seam even when the ball was old - as Clarke found out when he was made to leap by one on 96.

That seam movement was also key in the dismissal of Mitchell Johnson, who went for the pull shot but suddenly found he was chasing a ball two feet outside his off stump. Philander celebrated the wicket like he'd earned it, rather than got lucky off a long hop, which displayed his other important quality - he now looks as if he feels he belongs in international cricket. Such belief can't be over-rated.

These are still early days for Philander though, and for the moment his inclusion says as much about the selectors' thoughts on Lonwabo Tsotsobe's Test hopes as it does about his own fine form. Tsotsobe has turned into an excellent one-day bowler, but his lack of pace is clearly a worry at Test level - on slow pitches in the West Indies last year he could do little more than hold up an end. Philander's selection suggests that South Africa want a bit more than that, and Philander's ability to bowl at around 140kph is a weapon Tsotsobe will likely never have.

Having tried out both Wayne Parnell and Tsotsobe as a third seamer over the course of the past two years, time will tell whether South Africa's selectors will decide that they've got it third time lucky.