Rishton is delighted to confirm the signing of New Zealand batter Dale Phillips for their 2023 Lancashire League campaign.
Phillips is an exciting prospect and key member of the Otago Volts in New Zealand domestic cricket.
A gifted batter who bowls handy off-spin, Phillips has represented the New Zealand Under-19s, was Otago’s “Young Player of the Year” (2020/21), and has developed into one of the form batters in domestic cricket, particularly in New Zealand’s Plunket Shield (first-class) competition.
Dale is the younger sibling of bruising Blackcap’s bat Glenn. The brothers are part of an elite club. They are only the fourth pair of siblings to have played for New Zealand at the same Under-19 World Cup, after the Marshalls (Hamish and James in 1998), McCullum’s (Brendon and Nathan in 2000), and Bracewell’s (Mark and Doug in 2010).
He would go on to not only play the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh (Jan/Feb 2016), but also a second in New Zealand (Jan 2018) where he would finish second to Blackcaps T20 star Finn Allen on the run averages (58).
Phillips would go on to make his respective debuts for Otago in the Plunket Shield (Oct 2019), Ford Trophy (List A – Nov 2019), and Super Smash (T20 – Dec 2019). He was contracted by the Volts ahead of the 2020/21 and has since dominated the domestic game.
In first-class cricket, he scored his maiden hundred (149) amongst 419 runs at 41.90 during the 2020/21 Plunket Shield campaign, then backed up with 587 runs at 45.15 last summer (2021/22) to finish as the fourth leading run-scorer across the country.
The run machine now boasts 1,047 runs at 37.39 in his 17 first-class matches leading into the 2022/23 summer. He also averages mid-20s in both white ball formats and has been earmarked for higher honours in the not-too-distant future.
Phillips is quite the prospect who, to continue his development, is set to feature in English club cricket next season having signed with Rishton for their 2023 Lancashire League campaign.
