What were you doing at 20? Glenn Phillips was making New Zealand cricket history.
The strong young Auckland Aces batsman with the great eye and fast hands — who made his white ball debut for the BLACKCAPS just last month — today became the first player ever to have scored a century in New Zealand domestic first-class, List A (Ford Trophy) and T20 cricket in the same season.
Auckland Aces captain Rob Nicol congratulates Phillips on a special century. PHOTOSPORT
Batting at first drop, the rising star’s maiden Plunket Shield hundred (109 off just 136 balls, 15 x 4, 1 x 6, in just his second match) helped propel the Aces to a declaration early on the last day — as the defending first-class champions look to take full points at Eden Park Outer Oval to stay in touch with runaway leaders Canterbury with just two rounds to go.
Phillips and his younger brother Dale were both selected for the New Zealand Under-19 team that contested the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh last season, then Glenn stepped up to the BLACKCAPS T20 International side in February when he filled in for an injured Martin Guptill against South Africa at Eden Park.
A BLACKCAP by 20: Glenn Phillips. PHOTOSPORT
It highlighted a blossoming career that has been on the fast track ever since he was selected for the Aces’ Ford Trophy squad in early 2015, fresh out of school.
At 20 he already has two List A centuries to his name, having scored his maiden in a match-winning effort against the Volts in Alexandra last season before a record-smashing assault at Eden Park Outer Oval against the Stags this summer that saw both Aces openers, Phillips and Guptill, blast tons together en route to a huge opening stand of 208 — in a match the Aces remarkably won by just four runs.
He has now scored hundreds in all formats on the ground, having smashed his memorable maiden McDonald’s Super Smash ton there in January, a hundred that had flown from just 51 balls (8 x 4, 7 x 6).
The aggressive right-hander grew up learning his cricket in Auckland after his family had emigrated from South Africa when he was five, and flew into the BLACKCAPS’ one-off Twenty20 after his impressive debut McDonald’s Super Smash summer in which he ammassed 369 runs — the most in the 2016/17 competition — at an average 46.12 and strike rate of 143 from 10 innings, including the maiden century and three half centuries.
