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30 minutes ago
The day before taking his latest flying catch in the Champions Trophy, New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips was soaring in a different way.
He is training to be an aeroplane pilot and has a simulator with him in his hotel room.
“I’ll probably fly for close to four or five hours most days,” Phillips tells BBC Sport.
“The other day I did Bahrain to Dubai.
“Sometimes I’ll do Heathrow to Manchester, other days Auckland to Christchurch.
“It really depends on what is floating in my boat for the day.”
Phillips also practises various tricky scenarios – crosswind landings, mechanical failure, or turbulence and the like.
But on Sunday he will find himself attempting to keep a calm head in the Champions Trophy final against India in Dubai.
India will be favourites but New Zealand, who beat India to win the 2000 edition, have progressed to their third Champions Trophy final via steady batting, dependable bowling and near-perfect fielding, led by the extraordinary Phillips.
Two ‘Superman’ catches in the group stage – one diving to his left to take Mohammad Rizwan one-handed and the other a mirror image leaping to his right to catch Virat Kohli – have reinforced the view that Phillips is the best fielder in the world.
“I did a fair bit of gymnastics at school growing up, so learning to tuck and roll, dive properly, land properly,” he says.
“That probably gave me a lot more confidence than potentially your average person when hitting a hard surface on the ground.
“In the garden we had a big 16-foot trampoline and we always played like football goalkeeping stuff on it and we’d play like little cricket games on it.
“That probably had a huge impact on learning how to dive and being in a safe environment where you weren’t going to get injured.”
Catching statistics can be misleading in cricket.
A high catch percentage figure can look good but also mean the fielder has not attempted the more difficult chances.
Conversely, an athletic fielder could attempt difficult chances and be punished for only getting a fingertip to a ball others would not have reached.
Phillips has managed to succeed regardless.
He has had more touches in the field than any other player (156) during this tournament and has a 100% catch success rate, despite fielding in the most difficult positions.
He would also reject one of cricket’s oldest cliches – that fielding is something to be endured.
“I’ve always loved fielding since the beginning of playing,” says Phillips, whose side also have the best catch percentage (91.2%) in the tournament.
“The reactionary catches like the dives, there’s a big element of luck involved.
“I don’t train those at all purely because if you train them and you get injured at training doing so then what’s the point? There’s no heroes at training.
“I’ve taken a few so you build up a bit of belief that if it’s in that area, you have a chance.
“I’ve dropped plenty of them as well but, ultimately, if you push yourself to the limit, you’re going to find where it is.”
When you sit with Phillips his attributes are obvious.
Bulging forearms, broad shoulders, huge thighs and a stocky frame all help him cover ground at speed, throw and leap from a low centre of gravity. He has also spoken about embracing being diagnosed with ADHD.
But Phillips, who was born in South Africa before moving to New Zealand with his family aged five, is not happy to settle with what he has been given physically.
The 28-year-old is a studier of the mechanics of fielding. He watches the NFL and, in particular, baseball for theories of how he can push those limits.
He practises throwing with his non-dominant left arm and tests different ways to collect the ball in the field, like picking up with his left hand and throwing with his right and vice versa to maintain momentum through the ball.
“In baseball, it’s significantly quicker to pick it up on the move on your mitt side, carry on through the ball and then throw,” Phillips says.
“Obviously that provides a lot of momentum and power. That becomes slightly difficult when you’ve got bare hands.
“I’m yet to find out whether there is actually a difference in it. I’ve used it in a game a couple of times and it’s felt really cool.”
Those that know Phillips describe him as one of those people that is good at everything.
Electric in the field, he is also a hard-hitting batter, bowls canny off-spin and has even been wicketkeeper at international level, something he has now stopped because “there was no ability to move, no running, no diving and no ability to do something special unless the ball comes your way in your one specific spot”.
Phillips has also taken up archery, which he believes helps his cricket.
“The element that I’ve taken out of that is being more process driven,” he says.
“Obviously, baseball, I’ve seen the fielding element of it. Golf, the real patience side of things.
“But then archery is a real process-driven sport where if you focus on trying to hit the target, it often doesn’t really work.
“If you focus on doing the things that you can do well, that being the process, the end result takes care of itself.”
Phillips believes New Zealand’s fielding gives them “an edge in big tournaments” – they have reached a fourth men’s white-ball final since 2015 here – but is also able to see the big picture when showing off his art.
“If it’s a little thing I can do to give back to the cricket community and inspire the next generation to enjoy fielding rather than wanting to just sit on the sidelines and just bat and bowl, I think that’s something that I’d be really happy to come out of this game with one day,” Phillips says.
Phillips hopes to be flying the skies after retirement. Perhaps others will follow his lead on the field.
