Уэйн Филлипс: Австралиялық крикетшінің өмірі мен мансабы

Australian cricketer
the other Test cricketer named Wayne Phillips

Wayne Bentley Phillips (born 1 March 1958) is a former Australian cricketer who played in 27 Test matches and 48 One Day Internationals (ODIs) between 1982 and 1986 as a batsman and wicket keeper. He played for South Australia between 1978 and 1991.

Phillips played cricket as a wicketkeeper at high school, but concentrated on batting once he started grade cricket with Sturt district cricket club. He would occasionally keep wicket 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 order 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. Phillips established himself as an opening batsman over the 1981–82 season, scoring 857 first class runs at an average of 47.61, forming a strong opening combination with Rick Darling and 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 – the first double century from a South Australian batsman in ten years. These results saw Phillips selected in the Australian squad to tour Pakistan that winter as a batsman and reserve keeper. There was a spot open in the Australian batting line up as Greg Chappell was not touring. Phillips was in competition with Greg Ritchie. 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. Phillips scored consistently throughout the 1982–83 season, scoring 680 runs at an average of 37.77. He made centuries against New South Wales and Tasmania. Graeme Wood was dropped as opener after the first test, but his spot was given to Kepler Wessels, a South African batsman who had been in excellent form for Queensland for several seasons and only just become eligible for Australian selection. 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.

Phillips began the 1983–84 summer superbly with 234 against Tasmania and 75 against the touring Pakistan side. He was selected as opener in Australia's side for the first test against Pakistan, replacing John Dyson and partnering Kepler Wessels. Phillips had an excellent debut, scoring 159 in the first innings and helping set up a huge Australian victory; he also took three catches. He captained South Australia in a game against Queensland, scoring 14. In the rain shortened second test, Phillips scored 46. He made 1 and 21 for South Australia against WA, then made 12 and 54 in the third test; his second innings half century helped Australia secure a draw. Phillips made 5 and 36 against NSW in a Shield game, then he scored 35 in the fourth test and 37 and 19 not out in the fifth; Phillips had made 362 runs in the series at an average of 60.33. During the summer Phillips was also picked as wicketkeeper for some one day games for South Australia, which led to further calls for Rod Marsh to be dropped and replaced as keeper by Phillips. When Marsh scored a half century in an ODI he raised his bat in the direction of the press box.

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. Phillips played as a specialist batsman in these games – in the first, against Leeward Islands, he made 27 and 23 (off 109 balls) although he and Wessels put on 114 together. In the second, against Guyana, Phillips made 1 and 62. During the Leeward Island game, Phillips and Greg Ritchie were reprimanded for arriving 75 minutes late on day two. In the first ODI, Phillips was picked as wicketkeeper and batted at seven Steve Smith, played as opener; Smith scored a 60 in that game, and that fact, on top of Smith scoring twin centuries in the Guyana game, led to discussion that Phillips would be dropped for Smith in the first test. However, Woolley had a chipped bone in his right index finger and the selectors felt having Phillips as keeper would strengthen Australia's batting. "We couldn't risk a keeper who was not 100% sure of his fitness," said Hughes. Ian Chappell wrote that Phillips "should now spend every spare moment he has improving his wicketkeeping" and suggested "a toughening in Wayne's attitude as he is a likeable, easy going bloke who basically wouldn't want to put anyone's nose out of joint, never mind a job." Chappell thought Phillips should endeavour to be like Jeff Dujon, who started as a batsman then became a keeper. "Who knows," wrote Chappell, "with plenty of hard work and a touch of aggressive thinking he might become another Rod Marsh." Phillips was picked as a specialist middle order batsman in the notorious tour match against Trinidad and Tobago, while Wooley kept and Smith opened. Phillips made 19 and 12 not out, being at the wicket in the second innings during Kim Hughes' "protest" against the local side, where he instructed batsmen to score slowly. At one point Phillips took off his pads and lay down on the field during the game. Phillips played in the second ODI as wicketkeeper, scoring 10 runs in what was a rare Australian victory on the tour. After Steve Smith fell ill and was unable to play in the second test, Phillips was promoted to opener (Dean Jones replaced Smith but batted down the order), but failed in two innings, scoring 4 and 0. Phillips played as a specialist middle order batsman in a tour game against Barbados, making 21 and 52 not out. Smith recovered for the third test so Phillips was put back down the order again, 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, helping Australia to a competitive total of 429. However Australia collapsed disastrously in the second innings for 91 (Phillips 1) and Australia lost by ten wickets. By the 4th test openers Graeme Wood and Kepler Wessells were injured so Phillips had to open. Kim Hughes felt that Phillips could not keep as well so Woolley was recalled as a keeper and Phillips played as a specialist batsman (opening with Greg Ritchie); he only scored 5 and 22 and Australia lost by an innings and 30 runs. In the 3rd ODI, Phillips was a keeper and opener, scoring 0. He made 64 as an opener/keeper in a tour game against Jamaica, but only 13 in the 4th ODI. Woolley's form had been poor and Phillips was back at behind the stumps for the 5th test, opening both innings as well, making only 12 and 2. Peter McFarline who covered the tour later said Roger "Woolley's tour with the gloves has been as poor as I have seen in this class of cricket. It resulted in Wayne Phillips, a man of talent but not yet with the capacity to understand that talent, being placed in the position of keeping as well as opening the batting." McFarline argued the tour "showed conclusively that he is not an opening batsman of standing in this class" and felt his "future lies at six or seven in the order. He needs to be given the keeping job for his state in order to make the improvement necessary to do the job for Australia in the future." Ian Chappell wrote towards the end of the tour that "there is not a top class keeper in Australia at the moment and therefore Wayne Phillips has the chance to take the spot on the strength of his batting" but added that "If Phillips is to hold his position there (and his chances) he must be prepared to get a lot of bruises on his hands while practising his keeping."

When Phillips returned to Australia he was told South Australia would persist with Kevin Wright as keeper and Phillips could only keep wicket in one day games. In response, Phillips said he would move to Western Australia. The South Australian selectors then reversed their decision and told Phillips he had a guaranteed selection to keep for the first three games. This led to Wright retiring from first class cricket. Phillips stayed on as first choice wicketkeeper for the 1984 tour of India. He was quoted at the time saying:
From the Australian point of view, I can become the all rounder. I don't bat and bowl but I bat and wicket keep Hopefully this tour will see the start of me becoming a specialist wicket keeper. I realise I'm under enormous pressure, but I really believe I can prove I am as good as any specialist wicket keeper in the country. Phillips was generally held to have done a good job on the tour After scoring 32 and 0 for South Australia against Queensland, Phillips played in the second test. He made 44 (again Australia's top score) and 54. He was one of the few batsmen seen to be taking on the West Indies bowling. Phillips dislocated a finger and missed the last three tests. He was replaced by Steve Rixon but resumed his position at the end of the summer when he was better. He was also selected on the 1985 Ashes. At the end of the summer it was revealed that in November 1984 Phillips had signed to go on the rebel tours to South Africa over the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons. The tours were organised by former test batsman, Bruce Francis, who later wrote that Phillips:
Disliked keeping and would have preferred to play for Australia as a top order batsman. By the time the tour was being put together, he had become fed up with the pressures of the modern game and was determined to make as much money as he could, as quickly as he could, and then retire. It was a revelation to me that such a fine player could be so unenthusiastic about the game. However Phillips, along with Dirk Wellham and Graeme Wood, changed his mind after a financial inducement from Kerry Packer. (Murray Bennett changed his mind of his own accord.) For a time it was unsure whether the rest of the Australian players would agree to tour with Wellham, Phillips and Wood, but this was cleared up and the players were allowed to go to England.

Phillips was one of the few Australian players to return home with his reputation enhanced during the 1985 Ashes tour, which Australia lost 3–1. An innings of 91 in the first Test came close to saving the game for Australia, and in the second he made 21 in the first innings and came to the wicket in the second when Australia were 5/65 chasing 127 runs to win. He scored 29 in a partnership of 51 runs with Allan Border, taking Australia in sight of victory. A score of 2 in the third Test was followed by scores of 36 and 39 not out in the fourth the latter innings helping secure a draw and in the fifth Test, an innings of 59 brought Australia to within 80 minutes of a draw before he was dismissed in controversial circumstances. According to one writer, Phillips, Border and Ritchie were the only Australian batsmen to perform well. "Phillips made few mistakes behind the stumps for a wicketkeeper derided as "a batsman with gloves". And his thrilling square cut was reminiscent of the great Ted Dexter at the height of his power."

Philips went on to score runs for South Australia until the early 1990s. He concentrated on batting although he occasionally returned to wicketkeeping. In 1986 87 he scored 116 and 70 for South Australia against the touring English. Phillips also made 81 against Queensland, and 148 against New South Wales. In March 1987, he batted in partnership of 462 runs with David Hookes against Tasmania, setting an Australian record for the highest first run partnership. Phillips scored 213 not out. The runs were scored in 299 minutes off only 84.3 overs Despite this, he was not recalled to the national side. In 1988–89 he scored 129 runs at 18 for South Australia and was dropped to make way for Darren Lehmann. In 1989–90 he captained Sturt to the Adelaide District Championship. In 1990–91 he was recalled to the South Australian side after two seasons. He played for South Australia in one dayers as a wicketkeeper.

Phillip's promotion to wicketkeeper is generally held to have done considerable damage to his talents as a batsman. Steve Waugh later described him as:
That sporadic genuius 'Flipper' was always upbeat and great fun to be around – except when he was driving the team bus, in a style that on occasions bordered on maniacal and broke most of the known road rules – but I could never quite work out whether his casual, laid back attitude was genuine or a disguise for uncertainty and self doubt. At his peak, his good looks and ability to score fast meant he was one of the most popular Australian players, particularly with Channel Nine (who broadcast the game) and PBL (in change of marketing). Graham Halbish, an executive with the Australian Cricket Board, later wrote that:
Wayne was very popular with Channel Nine and PBL because they believed he was good value as a commercial asset. PBL rated him in the top three or so players in the country. The selectors certainly did not have him rated that highly. He was a wicketkeeper and a batsman but he was not performing to an exceptional standard, or consistently. Statistics did not equate to his profile. Phillips still holds the Test match records for the most matches played (18) and catches taken (43) in a complete career without a stumping.

He coached the Southern Redbacks for four seasons, until resigning on 16 March 2007, one season before his contract was set to expire.

In 2007 Phillips accepted a position as chief fundraiser for the South Australian branch of the Liberal Party.

Philiips' father Brian Phillips was a former Australian rules footballer and chairman of selectors with Sturt Football Club in the South Australian National Football League.