Glenn Phillips dives athletically during a practice session

Glenn Phillips is arguably the most complete cricketer in the world.

Certainly, there are very few who can match his range of roles across the years. His batting pays the bills and his fielding makes the the highlight reels, but his adaptability is best demonstrated by the fact that he started out for the Black Caps as a white-ball wicketkeeper, and now plies his trade as a red-ball spinner. In March this year, he took his first Test five-for, against World Test Champions Australia, becoming the first spinner to take a five-for on home soil for New Zealand in 16 years.

At the heart of his story is a never-ending energy, and constant quest for self-improvement. Not only has he become an integral part of New Zealand’s cross-format plans, but also one of the game’s great entertainers.

“I had people tell me to slow down a lot when I was younger,” Phillips tells Wisden.com. “But then I realised that was coming from people who couldn’t do it themselves, and it set me apart from everybody else. The more I tried to contain my energy, the more it took away the X-factor I had.

“I understand now just because it doesn’t fit in with other people’s norms doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing… From a cricketing perspective, I’ve come to understand that being at 100 per cent and giving it my all trying to improve all the time gives me a bit of an edge.”

***

When Phillips first came onto the international radar in 2018, it was as a hard-hitting middle-order batter and wicketkeeper, prompting the inevitable comparisons to the archetype of that role in New Zealand’s heritage, Brendon McCullum. But, by that point, he was already feeling constrained.

“I got to the point where I got frustrated with everyone in the field,” says Phillips. “You get stuck in one position where you can only move 10 metres to your left and to your right. If the ball doesn’t come to you then there’s no movement, you’re not involved in the game at all and I felt like it was a waste of time. It was no fun. There’s no movement, no running and what’s the point of doing something if you’re not enjoying something?”

A back injury towards the end of the year provided him with a way out.

“I hated keeping long before that, the back injury was the perfect excuse,” he says. “It started by telling New Zealand cricket that I didn’t want them to pick me anymore if I was going to play as a keeper... I jumped off that boat to live by my sword and die by it - thankfully it worked out. I would rather do what I was enjoying than stick around doing something I hated with a passion”

Phillips had dabbled in right-arm off breaks in age-group cricket and, spying a gap in the Black Cap market for a middle-order spin-bowling all-rounder, he fixed his eyes on a mid-career switch. With opportunities to bowl spin for Auckland on the New Zealand domestic not forthcoming, he took the plunge at the end of the 2021/22 season to move to Otago. In three games for the side in the Plunket Shield the following year, he bowled 87 overs and took five wickets.

That success paved the way for a recall to the Test side after almost two years out, for a series on low, slow pitches in Bangladesh. Four wickets in the first innings of the series provided instant vindication for the focus Phillips had put on his bowling over the previous five years, while the second Test marked his arrival as the all-rounder he’d always craved to be.

Three wickets in the first innings helped bowl Bangladesh out for 172, before an explosive 87 off 72 balls ensured New Zealand emerged with a lead, ultimately winning the game by four wickets.

“I didn’t realise how much I wanted to play Test cricket until I started bowling,” says Phillips. “Even just from being able to play in Bangladesh and be involved in both sides of the game… I can go out and bowl 25 overs and bat for as long as I want. That’s where the enjoyment comes from.”

*****

Losing the gloves didn’t just allow Phillips to work his way in as a spinner. It also allowed him to show off his incredible attributes in the field. On any compilation of great catches or run-outs from the last five years, there should be at least one or two entries from Phillips. In the Australia Tests, there was an extraordinary one-handed effort at gully to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne. The year before, in the T20 World Cup, came another bird-like effort to break an important partnership between Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell. But these are just the standouts. Anytime you look at Phillips in the field, you'll see a livewire ready to spark.

“I just love running,” he says. “I love being able to use my body. From an athletics perspective, I’ve been given a genetically prime body, and I see it as my responsibility to use it well. I’m not going to have it forever, so from there comes the enjoyment of running around, diving, putting in as much energy as possible. It’s a self-satisfaction thing when you give 100 per cent and everyone can see it. It’s not necessarily that I can feel it, it’s that everyone else can see it.”

The attention to detail is almost obsessive. In 2022, Phillips went viral for crouching like a sprinter in the blocks at the non-striker’s end, explaining later that it "just made sense" so that he could accelerate quicker.

Phillips puts his inexhaustibility down, in part, to his ADHD diagnosis.

“It gives me an edge on an energy perspective,” he says. “Growing up, going back to people telling me to slow down, I now understand that people don’t really know what they’re talking about. I’ve come to terms with that. I’ve got that bit of X-factor and I can use it rather than trying to shut it away.

“If anything, it’s a bit of a boost. It’s like a secret weapon nobody else has.”

*****

Having taken wickets on turning surfaces in Bangladesh, capitalising on the mistakes of inexperienced lower-order batters, Phillips’ toughest challenge came three months later against Australia. Misreading conditions in their selection for the game and leaving out Mitchell Santner, Phillips was thrown the ball on a turning pitch after New Zealand had conceded a deficit of more than 200 in the first innings.

From the time he dismissed Usman Khawaja for his first wicket, it took Phillips barely more than eight overs to reach his five-for, drawing a thick inside edge from Cameron Green to reach the milestone. That wicket made him only the fifth New Zealand spinner to take a Test five-for against Australia, and only the second in the last 30 years.

“I don’t look at the records,” Phillips says. “For me, it was the personal milestone of proving to myself and to everybody that’s made the path a little bit longer along the way when I was younger, ‘Hey look, if you work hard enough it shows you can do what you put your mind to’. And the self-satisfaction that it’s my favourite thing to do, my favourite part of the game… I’ve been dreaming about it for a long time and to be able to get the opportunity, especially in home conditions. It was definitely a big dream of mine to tick off the list.”

As much as bowling has given Phillips a new lease of life in Test cricket, he’s realistic about what the future could hold. Several senior New Zealand players have turned down central contracts over the last two years and Phillips is in high demand on the franchise circuit. Currently with Welsh Fire in The Hundred, he had a long stint on the sidelines with Sunrisers Hyderabad in this year’s IPL and picked up a handsome paycheque for the privilege. He’s also spent time playing in the Caribbean Premier League and had stints in county cricket.

“There’s obviously a significant monetary aspect to it,” says Phillips. “I’m one of those guys who’s going to quit while I’m ahead as opposed to dragging it out for as long as possible… As long as I’m playing Test cricket and getting to bowl as many overs as possible, I don’t think that [central contract discussion] is going to come any time soon. The solid one-year contracts, you can get mortgages on, and it’s definitely more on the safety side of things.

“I can completely understand that guys coming towards the end of their career who need to make hay while the sun shines and while their bodies can still do it. Personally, I’m more than keen to keep playing for New Zealand for as long as possible.”

As in all aspects of his career, Phillips is just looking to make the most of what he's been given.

“There’s no one right answer but for me, being able to play in both halves of the game, Test cricket is where I can do that the most, and have the most fun. If I wasn’t enjoying it, I wouldn’t be doing it.”

Follow Wisden for all ENG vs WI series updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.

Related tags:

Cover StoriesSeries Cover Stories