When it comes to retirements, it is often said timing is everything. The same could apply to Vernon Philander, not because he's reaching the end of his international bowling odometer, but the time and series he's chosen.
Local players are cherished at Newlands.
It's even more special for the players of colour, who have to take Ou Kaapse Weg to the highest playing level while most of their white counterparts have the smoothness of the N1 or N2 to deal with.
Having played all his provincial cricket at Newlands and having also performed well there, Philander was bound to make his final homecoming an event to remember.
He needed only 12 balls to take another Newlands wicket when he induced an edge from Zak Crawley to Quinton de Kock.
The act was repeated with the first ball of the 80th over to get rid of Dom Bess.
The monotony of that mode of dismissal; Philander's slightly moving ball that just catches the edge of the bat borders on tedious.
But that's the mechanical nature of Philander: boring batsmen out with minimal movement and maximum skill.
It's even more special for the players of colour, who have to take Ou Kaapse Weg to the highest playing level while most of their white counterparts have the smoothness of the N1 or N2 to deal with
The Newlands surface that was used for this Test wasn't as spiteful as the one that Philander played on in his debut against Australia in the infamous "47 all out" Test in 2011.
He served a marker of what was to come in the next 60 Tests, in most of which he was able to spin his web of medium-fast movement that in the age of extreme pace felt out of touch and out of date.
He's crossed the 50-wicket margin at this ground with an average of 17 and with three days to play, there's the chance of even making the brooding mountain crack some sort of a grin.
He's not going to get 300 Test wickets, which is a pity, but a bowler of his type hardly does.
Not even a spectacular unravelling of England's batting in the remaining two Tests will allow him to get close to Jacques Kallis's 291, but none of the bowlers above him have a better average.
With his wickets coming at 22.04 each at the moment, he's in exalted company.
While Dale Steyn could be rightly considered as one of the best fast bowlers SA has produced since readmission, his average of 22.95 suddenly pales into insignificance.
Philander, who was an excellent schoolboy cricketer and made his provincial debut in the SuperSport Series (now Four-Day Franchise Series) final between Western Province and the Dolphins, treaded the unfashionable route and has made it very sexy.
Philander, or "Pro" to those who know him very well, is the only active bowler with 200 or more Test wickets with a sub-23 average.
Of the bowlers with more than 200 Test wickets, only the late Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Fred Trueman, Glenn McGrath and Curtley Ambrose can boast better averages.
Muttiah Muralitharan and his 800 scalps at 22.27 and Shane Warne with his 708 at 25.41 are seated lower than Big Vern from an average perspective.
In Vern's own words, these stats don't lie.
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