Glenn Phillips is only 5'7″ tall, but he makes up for it with sheer strength. Photo: Andrew Boyers/Reuters
When Glenn Phillips walks England will face a man whose entire body is designed to deliver powerful shots in their opening World Cup match in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Phillips will bat at number six for New Zealand, a position that requires players who can not just find the gaps between fielders, but bridge them. At 5ft 7in, Phillips is several inches shorter than many of the world's most feared six-forwards. Phillips builds strength in a different way than height.
“The bench press is 150 kg, the squat is 210, the deadlift is 230,” says Phillips. “This is a relatively high figure.”
Such training is not carried out in the name of vanity. While strength training can be a cure for boredom — Phillips has increased his workouts during the Covid-19 lockdown — his regimen is dictated by his demands on the cricket field. Phillips epitomizes the increased emphasis on strength in the modern game.
“You don't have to lift 150kg on the bench press to hit sixes, there are guys who don't even lift 100kg and they'll hit sixes a lot more than me. For me it’s more because I’m small – I need to draw strength from somewhere else.”
Fantastic knock from Glenn Phillips as he brings up his second T20I. hundred for New Zealand 💯🚀#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/7ljI51nUqu
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) October 29, 2022
At number six, “10 to 20 overs should be the maximum number of times, when I'm hitting the ball» if the top player is going to perform,» Phillips says. His role is to make the most of what is left.
“My game is definitely more on the strength side,” he explains. «If you have power, you have to use it, but also be able to have the intelligence to move the field when you need it, at some time.»
More weight increases Phillips' margin of error. Sometimes there may still be enough mishits for six.
“That’s the idea: If I don’t do everything right, maybe I’ll get a little lucky,” he says. “If I've had an injury or an illness, it means I can't get up as often and my performance drops and a little piece of me in the back of my head says, 'You know, if I get up.' If I do it right, then maybe I You can’t get away with it that often.” If my numbers go up, that's one less thing I have to worry about.”
Phillips was five years old when his family moved from South Africa to New Zealand. He was raised Mormon, a faith he maintains. “It defines how I live as a person,” he previously said.
As a boy in New Zealand, Phillips was exposed to sports culture. “I was into the long jump and the triple jump, and maybe that’s where the agility and diving comes in,” he says. “My best friend was an 800-meter sprinter, and I trained with him all the time.”
Similar explosiveness can be seen on the field, where Phillips amasses his personal highlights package. The latest was his stunning catch in Southampton last month, where he jumped on both feet off the ground and dove full length from the back point (see video below).
WHAT'S THE APPROACH Glenn Phillips ⚡
«He's PHENOMENAL on the field!» 🙌 pic.twitter.com/w0QJ8bGuUv
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 10, 2023
“I find this probably the most enjoyable part of the game because it has nothing to do with my performance number 1,” he says.
“It's about energy, effort and intention, which the boys all have. I'm just genetically lucky that I have a little more speed. It is my responsibility to give back to the team.”
4D Cricketer
If most modern cricketers are two-dimensional, excelling in two dimensions: batting, bowling and fielding, and few of them are three-dimensional, then Phillips can be described as four-dimensional. In terms of batting and fielding, he keeps the wicket and bowls at the same time.
However, although he still plays professional cricket from time to time, Phillips prefers off-spin bowling, especially against left-handers in the World Cup.
“If I'm needed, I'll always do it.” what the team needs. But when it comes to personal preference, I'd happily ditch the gloves,» he says.
«Basically, I bowl almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in training when I don't hit the ball. I really want to play the role of an all-rounder and when it comes to playing Test cricket, that's where the opportunity comes in.»
Phillips wants to retire the gloves and focus on spin bowling. Photo: Surjit Yadav/Getty Images
Phillips' style, you suspect, would fit perfectly if New Zealand were to adopt a similar approach to their former England captain Brendon McCullum. In his only Test in Sydney in 2020, Phillips scored 52.
It took him five years between his Twenty20 international debut when he was 20 in 2017 and his one-day international debut. However, his performances in the T20 World Cup have already shown his range. Last year against Sri Lanka, Phillips made seven for two and then quickly made 15 for three. His remarkable 104 goals (for a total of 167) demonstrated not only strength, but also selectivity and skill in hitting the ball in gaps and in hurried twos.
Phillips hopes to demonstrate this adaptability in India. “Having been at the top of the order throughout my career in my home country, if things don't go well, I feel like I have the ability to revive my serve,” he says.
“It's all about solving problems. So where is the field at the moment? How do I get the ball there? And is it necessary to play with strength or dexterity during this period of time? So knowing that I have a different range of shots allows me to maintain confidence in myself and have a clear decision-making process while batting.
“Can I take a small risk or a big risk in certain cases to get the deposit? which I would rather have in the future? So it's kind of a compromise, risk and reward. To be able to take those risks, you need to practice those shots and have them in reserve.”
On all the broader questions about the future of ODIs, Phillips has no doubts. approximately the cost of a 50 over game. At 26 years old, there is a sense that his sporting journey has accumulated so far.
“This is my favorite format,” he declares. “It involves so many different components. There are times when things move at a fast pace, but there are also times when if something goes wrong, you have the opportunity to recover. Thus, it combines the T20 and Test formats. Given my style of play, it allows me to use all my skills and not necessarily just my power game.
“The ODI World Cup was definitely a goal of mine from a young age. To achieve this is phenomenal.”
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