Josh Philippe says he is ready to bat at either the top or middle order if he gets a call up for Australia during the T20I series against West Indies.
Philippe played a match-winning hand in Australia’s second intra-squad warm-up two days out from the series opener in St Lucia on Friday night [Saturday morning in Australia].
Chasing a target of 165, Philippe blasted 67 runs from 43 deliveries to claim victory for the Henriques XI over the Finch XI with 15 balls to spare.
While Philippe usually bats at the top of the order for the Sydney Sixers, as he did in the warm-up, he said team management has indicated he may be considered for a middle-order role, an area which seems to offer the most opportunity ahead of the T20 World Cup.
It would mean a change from Philippe’s role in the five T20s he played for Australia in New Zealand earlier this year. For the first four matches of that series, he came in at No.3 before opening the batting in the final game.
“I was told it is likely it could look like a middle order role,” said Philippe after the match.
“It's nice to get up the top tonight. It's very familiar for me, I do it all Big Bash, so it was nice to be up there.
"But if it's a middle order roll I feel like I'm equipped to do that as well. So, whatever the opportunity is I'll be ready to take it over.”
The most innovative shot of Philippe’s innings came when he shaped to scoop Mitchell Swepson and ended up playing a switch-pull shot for one of his nine boundaries.
“Yeah he moved the field around and I thought it was gonna be a short one, they only had one guy behind point on the offside so I was gonna switch him and ended up switch, sort of, pulling him for four,” said Philippe.
“It’s the first time I've actually played it but it came off so that was nice.”
While Philippe could push for a specialist batting role, his wicketkeeping skills make him an interesting prospect on this tour.
Matthew Wade opened the batting for the Finch XI, scoring 52 off 34 balls, while Alex Carey batted at No.4 and made 30 runs off 27 deliveries.
The three-way contest for the wicketkeeper-batter role promises to be one of the most interesting subplots of the tour.
Philippe won bragging rights on this occasion when he stumped Wade off the bowling of Adam Zampa and he says he’s ready if he is called on to take up the gloves against West Indies.
“I am feeling pretty confident,” Philippe said.
“I've been working pretty hard on it in the offseason and yeah I feel like I've kept pretty well the last two practice games.
"I'm feeling pretty confident behind the stumps which is good.
"Zamps (Adam Zampa) bowled a beautiful wrong‘un to Wadey and he picked it nicely and got a nice little something.”
Mitchell Starc was the pick of the bowlers as he continued to settle into the T20 rhythm.
In a match where just eight wickets fell Starc bowled four overs and finished with figures of 3 for 30.
