New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips has revealed that his occasional switch to left-handed batting is a long-term strategy, rather than a temporary experiment. He enjoys batting left-handed during training sessions.
During the Super Smash T20 match between Vols and Stags last month, the right-handed batter surprised fans by unexpectedly switching his stance. Phillips elaborated that he has been training as a left-hander regularly and has been preparing for this change over a significant time.
“I’ve always been able to bat left-handed. It’s something I’ve done since I was young. I was actually considering switching to bat left-handed when I was about 10 years old, but decided to stick with the right hand. These days, I train batting left-handed for two reasons: one to keep both hands and both sides of the brain working, but also to be able to counteract left-arm spin,” Phillips told New Zealand Cricket.
“I started working on it a bit more recently, facing pace-bowlers left-handed in the nets as well as spinners. I was more thinking it was something for the future, but the fact that the opportunity came during the game to use it and I was able to pull it off was pretty cool,” he added.
He emphasized that this approach is part of his long-term strategy and might be used in specific match scenarios. “It’s about trusting the training and understanding that I’ve done the preparation leading into it, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t work. I’ve then just got to watch the ball as much as possible,” he noted.
Phillips is included in New Zealand’s squad for the upcoming white-ball tour of India, which features three ODIs followed by five T20Is. The latter matches will be crucial for both teams’ preparations for the T20 World Cup in February.
The all-rounder expressed excitement for the upcoming tour and anticipates a warm welcome from Indian fans, although he remains uncertain about the nature of the pitches.
“The preparation is going to be perfect,” Phillips said. “The conditions might be a bit different from what we’ll get in the World Cup. You never quite know what kind of pitches teams will produce, especially in the subcontinent, where they sometimes favour spin-friendly surfaces. But on T20 and ODI tours, the pitches are usually very good.”