New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips said his brave switch-hitting show in a recent Super Smash match was no gimmick but a tactical option he has developed for years to counter left-arm spin.
In last week’s match against Central Districts, Otago right-hander Phillips switched stance while off-spinner Dean Foxcroft was midway through his run-up, and hit the bowler for a four. It was not a four only, but a full-blooded cover-drive from a left-hand batsman.
The spectators got stunned in the final over of the Otago innings when Phillips took up a left-hander’s stance even before left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox had begun his run-up and hit the bowler for a six!
“I do enjoy my left-handed batting training,” Phillips, who smashed an unbeaten 90 off 48 balls in the match, said before leaving for New Zealand’s white-ball tour of India on Tuesday.
He explained the reasons behind his innovation. “Obviously, I do it for multiple reasons. One of them is just to keep both hands and both sides of the brain working, but also for the opportunity to take down left-arm spin.”
England’s Kevin Pietersen pioneered switch-hitting, while Australian duo David Warner and Glenn Maxwell had it in their arsenal but used it mostly to explore gaps behind or square of the wicket.
“I have always been able to bat left-handed. I have been doing it since a young age. I started experimenting with left-hand batting when I was about 10 years old. I was purely a left-handed batter that time. Later on, I decided to switch to the right hand, and now I train both,” Phillips added.
Phillips said he even faced pacers in the nets with a switched stance to improve his left-handed batting.
