ENG vs NZ 2026: 'I know he's watching' - Glenn Phillips dedicates maiden Test century to late father

Glenn Phillips notched up his maiden Test century on Day 2 of the second Test between England and New Zealand at the Oval. The all-rounder became the third New Zealand cricketer to score centuries in all three formats of the game, after Martin Guptill and current England head coach Brendon McCullum. He reached a milestone a day before his father Roland's death anniversary and celebrated by raising his bat to the sky. Speaking after the day's play, Phillips dedicated his century to his father.

"It's the anniversary of my dad's passing tomorrow. Hopefully, with our boys doing their thing, maybe I'm not going to be needed tomorrow. But today is close enough for the moment to matter, and he's been a big role in my life. I know he would have loved to be here to see that, and Test cricket was his favourite format. I know he's watching in some stage," Phillips said, as reported by ESPNcricinfo.

He finished day 1 unbeaten on 49 off 74 balls, withstanding a short-ball onslaught from Jofra Archer. He then scored 51 runs off 61 balls the following morning, putting up 100 runs for the last three wickets, and taking New Zealand to a competitive score of 391. The battle between Phillips and Archer brought back memories of a 2019 New Zealand A tour, where he faced a similar experience from the England quick.

"We've actually had one of those duels before, six or seven years back in New Zealand, and he pretty much hit me in the exact same spots all over. He bowls with great heat, great accuracy, and he just kept coming back. Obviously, it was a thrilling contest for the crowd to see as well, and sometimes you've just got to enjoy it, laugh, and hope for the best," Phillips said.

New Zealand are also without their talisman Kane Williamson, who announced his retirement from international cricket after the loss at Lord's. Phillips emphasised on Williamson's constant messaging about how the runs are always for the team.

"Kane obviously speaks about it quite a lot: we score our runs, but they're never our runs. We're just custodians of those runs for the team. We try to do things for the team," Phillips said.

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Before the Test series, Phillips was at the IPL with the Gujarat Titans, where he played the first five games, but was dropped for Jason Holder. He used his time to prepare for the Test series, trying to play the ball as late as possible. 

"I still had to be prepared to play, but we were very, very lucky at Gujarat with the amount of facilities that we had. [I was] not necessarily training red-ball cricket per se, but having that same mindset of being still, trying to keep my head as still as possible, and play the ball as late as possible, under my eyes. Definitely, there was time to be able to have those sorts of nets sessions, do my throwdowns," he said.

"We were very spoiled for choice over there with the number of facilities and people that we had on board. It's just a matter of trying to get used to that red ball when you get over here, and obviously the Dukes is always slightly different [to the Kookaburra]. For me, it was then about making that adjustment when we got to Lord's, trying to adjust as quick as possible," he added.

The Kiwis find themselves in a dominant position at the close of Day 2, with England reeling at 222 for 6 in 59 overs, trailing by 169 runs.