{"id":34788,"date":"2026-01-06T12:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34788"},"modified":"2026-01-06T12:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:04:10","slug":"left-is-sometimes-right-for-phillips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34788","title":{"rendered":"Left is sometimes right for Phillips"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips said his audacious switch-hitting show in a recent Super Smash match was no gimmick but a tactical option he has honed for years to counter left-arm spin.<br \/>\nIn last week&#8217;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 with what could have been mistaken for a full-blooded cover drive from a left-handed batter.<br \/>\nJaws dropped further in the final over of the Otago innings when Phillips took up a left-hander&#8217;s stance even before left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox had begun his run-up and hit the bowler for a six.<br \/>\n&#8220;I do enjoy my left-handed batting training,&#8221; Phillips, who smashed an unbeaten 90 off 48 balls in the game, said before leaving for New Zealand&#8217;s white-ball tour of India on Tuesday.<br \/>\n&#8220;Obviously, I do it for multiple reasons. One, just to keep both hands and both sides of the brain working, but (also) for the opportunity to take down left-arm spin.&#8221;<br \/>\nEngland&#8217;s Kevin Pieterson pioneered switch-hitting, while Australian duo David Warner and Glenn Maxwell had it in their armoury but used it mostly to explore gaps behind or square of the wicket.<br \/>\n&#8220;I&#8217;ve always been able to bat left-handed. It&#8217;s something I&#8217;ve done since I was young,&#8221; Phillips said.<br \/>\n&#8220;I was going to switch when I was about 10-years-old and actually bat left-handed full time, but decided to stick with the right hand as it was.&#8221;<br \/>\nTeams often employ a left-arm orthodox spinner to take the ball away from a right-handed batter, especially in the 20-overs format.<br \/>\nPhillips said he even faced pacers in the nets with a switched stance to improve his left-handed batting.<br \/>\n&#8220;It&#8217;s been a few years since it&#8217;s really had a chance to come out &#8230; but for it to actually pay off, and for years of work to come out on the field was really (pleasing),&#8221; he added.\u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips said his audacious switch-hitting show in a recent Super Smash match was no gimmick but a tactical option he has honed for years to counter left-arm spin. In last week&#8217;s match against Central Districts, Otago right-hander Phillips switched stance while off-spinner Dean Foxcroft was midway through his run-up, and hit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}