Vernon Philander may have taken Test cricket by storm since his debut last November but it would be inaccurate to describe him as an overnight success. The South African bowler turned 27 last month and a story that began in the deprived suburbs of Cape Town took in underwhelming stints with Middlesex, Rishton and Budleigh Salterton before everything clicked.

It did so to such an extent that when Philander takes to the field at The Oval on Thursday against England he will do so having passed 50 Test wickets in just seven appearances, faster than any cricketer has managed since the 19th century.

"He has done it the hard way, and he deserves all the success and plaudits he is now receiving," says Alfonso Thomas, another South African seamer who has given fine service to Somerset for the past five seasons, and who comes from the same cricket club, Tygerberg. The club is in the northern suburbs of Cape Town – near Ravensmead on the Cape Flats, where Philander was still living with his mother and three younger brothers when he was called up to make his Test debut against Australia just over eight months ago.

"I was coaching juniors at the club when he came through. He comes from a very poor background, so to speak, and he's a very humble person. The facilities at Tygerberg weren't the best, there was probably only one net for six or seven junior teams – nothing like what they have in other parts of the city. But the guy's got a strong character. He certainly had a lot of self-belief in his own ability, and he's certainly made the most of what he's got. He's not the quickest, but he always preferred accuracy."

Thomas believes that makes him a perfect foil for Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, who will form a more spectacular threat to the England batsmen in terms of speed. It worked to devastating effect in Philander's Test debut, at Newlands in a much leafier part of Cape Town than the area in which he grew up; after South Africa were skittled for 96 in their first innings, the new seam trio routed Australia for 47 in their second. Philander took five for 15 from seven overs, and has still to look back.

"I think for anyone to take to Test cricket the way he has would be a surprise," says Shaun Pollock, the former South Africa captain, who watched that stunning debut. "For two years in a row he was the leading wicket-taker in our domestic bowling averages, so there was no doubt he had the skills. But would they be as effective at the top level as he has been? You never really know. I've been pleasantly surprised the way he's performed. He's been the perfect person to complement Steyn and Morkel. He's 130-odd ks [kph], not the 140 pace they are, but he does get the ball to move off the seam, and he's very accurate."

Indeed, Richard Pybus, the Northumberland-born career coach who is now in charge of Bangladesh but previously worked closely with Philander at the Cape Cobras, reveals that his team-mates used to sing "Oo, aa, Vern McGrath" when he drank beer in the dressing room – "an acknowledgement to the virtues of skill, control and patience" he shared with the great Australian seamer of that name.

Yet there was not much sign of that when he first came to England in 2003 with a South Africa Under-19s team also including AB De Villiers and JP Duminy, both likely team-mates at The Oval this week, and bowled without great success at Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan and Alastair Cook. There was even less indication that here could be a record-breaking Test cricketer when he had a brief spell in Devon the following summer, earning the nickname of Guinness as he enjoyed himself in the sleepy seaside town of Budleigh Salterton, although he did make a significant contribution to the county team's shock victory over Leicestershire in a rain-affected C&G Trophy tie in Exmouth.

Two years later he returned again, this time to Rishton in Lancashire. In 2007 he made his one-day international debut in Ireland, but again he struggled, and the year after that he had a first stint in county cricket with Middlesex. Andrew Strauss was a team-mate for one of his three Championship appearances, a dramatic defeat by Essex in Chelmsford, and he received three penalty points for showing dissent at an lbw decision and smashing a ball into the advertising hoardings during what turned out to be his last match against Warwickshire.

Later that summer he was included in the South Africa one-day team who were beaten at Headingley and Lord's, and for a couple of years that appeared to be that. "I don't know all the ins and outs but I think he went to Middlesex and Middlesex weren't too impressed with him at the time," Thomas says. "It just shows you that the guy has gone back home, sat down and worked it out."

In the South African domestic season of 2009-10, Philander took 59 wickets at 12.96. The following year, there were another 35 at 16.11. Then the Australians arrived in November last year for a ridiculously short two-Test series played at an unusually early stage of the South African summer, when there was still plenty of moisture in the Newlands pitch. The rest is history – Test cricket history. Somerset provided a helpful early-season chance to reacquaint himself with English conditions this year – and crucially, according to Thomas, who played a key part in the signing, to bowl with a Dukes ball. "I'm sure the England guys won't approve of that, but I was thinking on behalf of Somerset, not anyone else."

This week a wider English audience will have the first chance to witness the Philander phenomenon.