When Glenn Phillips came in to bat in the first innings of the second Bangladesh-New Zealand Test in Mirpur, the setting was all too familiar. A visiting western side were all at sea on a raging turner in the subcontinent.
Bangladesh managed to cross 150 runs in the first innings and ended with 172 runs in the final innings. This total was much larger than it appeared, but New Zealand would soon find out. p>
After an innings of 11.2 overs, the visiting team lost their top four for just 46, including keystone Kane Williamson. Two balls later, they lost No. 6 Tom Blundell and put Phillips into the play.
Batting is a solitary act. And ironically, batting becomes even more lonely when surrounded by a swarm of fielders shouting in foreign languages. He experienced that when Phillips joined. The first ball he faced hit the pads and narrowly sailed past his foot slip for a four-for. Bangladesh didn’t care.
Everything on the second day was canceled due to rain, but when play resumed almost a day and a half later, Phillips knew this wasn’t the place to hang out. It took him 4 births to find his first boundary that day (3rd day). His credo was simple. He stays back, doesn’t get upset when the ball hits his bat, invites the bowlers to bowl more, picks up the ball when the bowler comes. He hit a six in his first innings, a long hit on the leg side in his third, and a lofted drive over long-off.
At the time of his dismissal, Phillips had scored 87 runs off just 72 balls to lead New Zealand to 180 runs, eight more than Bangladesh on a surface where every run mattered. After the game that day, he said: “I just tried to play with the bat as much as I could and effectively pick the poison.”
<iframe Loading=”lazy” style=”border-radius: 12px;” src=”https://open.spotify.com/embed/show/1XeleYXleZeyGRpmoG2Nzw?utm_source=generator” width=”100%” height=”232″ Frameborder=”0″allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”></iframe> ;
Conceding the lead to New Zealand, who were trailing 7-97, ultimately proved costly for Bangladesh. They were bowed out for 144 in the third innings and the visitors’ target was set at 137 to level the series. But things were not easy on his fourth day on the surface of Mirpur, which had been unstable since day one.
New Zealand were once again trailing by around 50 points and it was once again up to Phillips to save the visiting team. And he did not disappoint. Phillips remained unbeaten on 40 off 48 balls as New Zealand crossed the goal line with an unbeaten 70-run partnership with Mitchell Santner.
Phillips may not have broken the triple digit mark in either innings, but the impact of his performance in this Test was invaluable. In a game where the rest of his 21 batters combined for him to score 471 points, an average of 13.85 points per throw, Phillips scored his 127 points, which was better than a run-a-ball. Ta.
In this test, over 20% of both teams’ straight runs were scored by Phillips. For New Zealand, that figure rises to his 41.3 per cent. His 127 runs in this Test is the second highest by a visiting Bangladesh batsman number 7 or below to score without exceeding 100 runs in an innings. Moreover, his run strike rate was 105.83. No other visiting batsman has scored more runs at a higher strike rate in Test matches in Bangladesh.
Phillips came into this series having only played one friendly match so far, so his place in the team was in question. He returns with the performance of his lifetime and the Player of the Match award.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
