Wayne B. Phillips

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Wayne B. Phillips bigraphy, stories - Cricketer

Wayne B. Phillips : biography

1 March 1958 –

Wayne Bentley Phillips (born 1 March 1958) is a former Australian cricketer, who played in 27 Tests and 48 ODIs from 1982 to 1986 as a batsman and wicket-keeper. He played for South Australia between 1978 and 1991

Career

Phillips played cricket as a wicketkeeper at high school, but concentrated on batting once he started grade cricket. He would occasionally wicket keep and was a reserve wicketkeeper with Australian under-age teams, but soon established himself as a specialist batsman.

He made his first class debut during the 1977-78 season, when the state sides had been depleted due to World Series Cricket. Over the summer he played three Sheffield Shield matches and a single one-day match as a middle class batsman, with a top score of 22.

Phillips did not play first class cricket again until the 1980-81 season, when he was picked for South Australia’s last match of the Sheffield Shield. He made the most of his opportunity, scoring 111 and 91 as an opener against Victoria.

Established in South Australian side

Phillips established himself as an opening batsman over the 1981-82 season, scoring 857 first class runs at an average of 47.61, making an important contribution to South Australia winning the Sheffield Shield that summer. He scored a century against the visiting Pakistan side and 260 against Queensland. These results saw Phillips selected in the Australian squad to tour Pakistan that winter as a batsman and reserve keeper.

Pakistan Tour 1982-83: International Debut

As a junior member of the touring squad, Phillips was not expected to play in any test matches in Pakistan. This proved to be the case, with Bruce Laird, John Dyson and Graeme Wood better established as openers. However a score of 92 in a tour game against the Pakistan Invitation XI saw Phillips selected to make his one day international debut in the final match of that series. Unfortunately the game was called off due to a riot.

1982/83 Season

Phillips scored consistently throughout the 1982-83 season, scoring 680 runs at an average of 37.77. He scored centuries against New South Wales and Tasmania but was unable to break into the test team. There was an opener vacancy after Graeme Wood was dropped but the spot was given to Kepler Wessels.

Nonetheless, Phillips remained on the radar of Australian selectors. He was picked as 12th man for the 3rd test, and selected in a Young Australian side to tour Zimbabwe in early 1983 as a wicketkeeper batsman. The highlight of this tour for Phillips was scoring 135 in a one day game. After this success, commentators started talking about Phillips as a possible Australian wicketkeeper.

1983-84: Test Debut against Pakistan

Phillips was picked as opener for the first test against Pakistan during the 1983-84 summer and scored 159 in the first innings. He played for the rest of the series, ending with 362 runs at an average of 60.33, and was selected for the 1984 tour of the West Indies. During the summer he was also picked as wicketkeeper for some one day games for South Australia, which led to further calls for him to play in this position for Australia.

1983-84 Tour of West Indies: Wicketkeeper

Rod Marsh had retired as Australia’s wicketkeeper at the end of the 1983-84 season and it was expected his replacement would be Roger Woolley, who kept wicket for the first two tour games. However, the selectors were unhappy with Woolley’s form and felt having Phillips as keeper would strengthen Australia’s batting. This also allowed them to pick Steve Smith, who was in good form, as opener to bat alongside Kepler Wessels.

Phillips played the first test batting at number seven, top scoring in Australia’s second innings with 76. After Steve Smith fell ill and was unable to play in the second test, Phillips was promoted to opener, but failed in two innings, scoring 4 and 0.

He was put back down the order again for the 3rd test, this time at number eight, with Tom Hogan batting ahead of him. The move seemed to pay off in the first innings, Phillips scoring 120 runs, including 14 fours and 4 sixes. However his effort was not enough to save the game, with Australia collapsing disastrously in the second innings. Phillips played the 4th as a specialist opener, allowing Woolley to take the gloves, but he only scored 5 and 22. Wolley’s keeping did not impress and Phillips was back at behind the stumps for the 5th test, opening both innings as well, making only 12 and 2.