Phillips stars as Volts charge to unexpected win

Was this the hundred where Dale Phillips announced himself as a seriously good player?

The 23-year-old blazed 21 boundaries in a sparkling knock of 114 to set up an unlikely seven-wicket win for Otago against Wellington at the University Oval yesterday.

The pitch map showed a lot of action square of the wicket.

It was his third first-class century, second this season, and arguably his best.

"I think it is up there.

"We were batting for a win on the last day whereas the others were in the first innings," Phillips said.

"It was a different type of hundred, I guess, one where you’ve got to be locked on the whole time. I was pretty happy with it."

Phillips will be joined at the Volts by his brother, Black Cap Glenn Phillips, next season.

"He has obviously thought about it for a while and thought it would be a nice opportunity for him," he said.

The pair played together for New Zealand at the under-19 world cup in 2016. But lately, Glenn has made a habit of catching his younger brother out.

"Yeah, it would be nice to be on the other side of that," he said.

"But he always wants me to do well. It irks him that he has to catch them."

The pair are close and very supportive of each other.

Family is important to Phillips. His wife Bianca gave birth to the couple’s first child, daughter Elaine, this summer.

While Phillips and Otago batted positively to win the game, the Volts were comprehensively outplayed during the opening two days.

But cricket is a quirky game.

Rain ruined any chance of play on the third day which meant the match situation leant itself towards a couple of bold declarations.

The Volts went first. They decided there was no point batting on and declared their innings closed at 164 for five.

Wellington took a punt as well.

The visitors clobbered 469 in their first dig and decided that was enough. They declared their second innings without batting, setting Otago 306 for victory.

Normally, that would be a big ask on the last day but the pitch had freshened up and played rather nicely for the batters.

The opening pair rattled on 64 at a rapid pace. But it was the next man in who really underlined just how charitable the declaration was.

Phillips climbed into anything resembling a short delivery and peppered the square boundaries.

A lot of deliveries ended up at midwicket or disappeared through the point region.

Nick Kelly fell nicely into the support role and held his end up while Phillips kept the pressure on the accelerator pedal.

He brought up his third first-class hundred with another crushing pull shot through midwicket.

This time it was Ollie Newton who watched as his delivery speed towards the pickets.

The pair put on 178 for the third wicket. Phillips scored 111 of them.

He was eventually out hooking but victory was in sight by then.

Kelly and Jacob Cumming came out after the tea break and knocked off the remaining 41 runs to win with 26 overs to spare.

Kelly was unbeaten on 85 and Cumming got through to 28.

Wellington had control of the game but badly miscalculated with its declaration.

In hindsight, the visitors should have batted for a bit and set a more challenging target.

In the other games, the match between Northern Districts and Auckland was abandoned without a ball bowled, while the game between Canterbury and Central Districts in Palmerston North petered out to a draw.

WELLINGTON

First innings

469

OTAGO

First innings

164 for 5 decl

WELLINGTON

Second innings

0 for 0 decl

OTAGO

Second innings

H Rutherford c Blundell b McPeake 36

M Renwick c Robinson b McPeake 27

D Phillips c Vishvaka b Newton 114

N Kelly not out 85

J Cumming not out 28

Extras (6b, 2lb, 1w, 10nb) 19

Total (for 3 wkts, 69.2 overs) 309

Fall: 1-64, 2-71, 3-249.

Bowling: N Smith 12-1-63-0 (3nb); O Newton 15-2-64-1 (1w); M Snedden 17-1-63-0 (7w); I McPeake 8-1-36-2; J Gibson 4-0-24-0; R Ravindra 13.2-1-51-0.

Result: Otago won by seven wickets.