Wayne B. Phillips

He did play one last great innings for Australia, helping win the 3rd one day international. He came to the wicket with Australia at 5-142 requiring 230 to win and Steve Waugh at the other end. Waugh asked him what he thought and Phillips replied, "Simple, young fella. With my talent and your youth, we'll get these with an over to spare." The two of them put on 86 runs with Phillips scoring 53 off 32 balls, and Australia won by 3 wickets. Phillips and Waugh were voted joint man of the match.

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.

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.

He was put back down the order again for the 3rd test, 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. However his effort was not enough to save the game, with Australia collapsing disastrously in the second innings.

Woolley's keeping did not impress and Phillips was back at behind the stumps for the 5th test, opening both innings as well, making only 12 and 2.

He coached the Southern Redbacks for four seasons, until resigning on 16 March 2007, one season before his contract was set to expire. Under his tenure, the Redbacks' winning percentage hit 25% (10 wins, 22 losses and eight draws) and in his last season, they finished last in both the Pura Cup (winning just one match) and Ford Ranger Cup competitions.

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

Philips went on to score runs for South Australia until the early 1990s. He concentrated on batting although he occasionally returned to wicketkeeping.

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.

In 1989-90 he captained Sturt to the Adelaide District Championship.

In 1988-89 he scored 129 runs at 18 for South Australia and was dropped to make way for Darren Lehmann.

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 He also scored a century against the visiting English side. Despite this, he was not recalled to the national side.

Phillips ended up being replaced by specialist keeper Tim Zoehrer on the 1986 tour to New Zealand. Cricket journalist Mike Coward wrote at the time that "Phillips, who has been the butt of much criticism and ridicule over the past 12 months... who has been severely depressed at times this season, will privately rejoice at Zoehrer's promotion".

Phillips played in all three tests of the 1986 tour of New Zealand as a specialist batsman, although he also played as wicketkeeper in the one day internationals, and one of the tour games. By now David Boon and Geoff Marsh had established themselves as openers, so Phillips batted at number three.

Phillips stayed on as first choice wicketkeeper for the 1984 tour of India. He was quoted at the time saying:

Phillips was generally held to have done a good job on the tour and also throughout the 1984–85 summer, despite an injury which saw him miss several games.

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:

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 was picked as opener for the first test against Pakistan during the 1983–84 summer and scored 159 in the first innings.

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. However, the selectors were unhappy with Woolley's form and felt having Phillips as keeper would strengthen Australia's batting. This also allowed them to pick Steve Smith, who was in good form, as opener to bat alongside Kepler Wessels.

Phillips scored consistently throughout the 1982–83 season, scoring 680 runs at an average of 37.77. He scored centuries against New South Wales and Tasmania but was unable to break into the test team. There was an opener vacancy after Graeme Wood was dropped but the spot was given to Kepler Wessels.

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.

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.

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.

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 the 4th as a specialist opener, allowing Woolley to take the gloves, but he only scored 5 and 22.