After popping up on the radar with oodles of buzz, Glenn Phillips' international T20 career has fizzled into his first major encounter with adversity. Of course, when we're talking about Blackcaps selections, we need to recognise the endless shenanigans of Lesson and let their boggling selections offer context and a backdrop to any discussion. Oh, and this is international T20 cricket we're talking about so meh.

I did find a splash of funk in the specific tale of Phillips being cut from the Blackcaps T20 team; he was dropped for Tom Blundell. That means that Phillips was dropped as a wicket-keeper for someone who is deemed to be a better wicket-keeper and I'm definitely not here to debate or offer opinion on Blackcaps T20 selections, I'm more concerned with what Phillips actually is as a cricketer and how he fits into the wicket-keeper landscape.

We live in a rather sensational time for kiwi wicket-keeper/batsmen which is best summed up by saying that Phillips may not be the best wicket-keeper in Auckland and Blundell may not be the best wicket-keeper/batsman in Wellington. Phillips plays alongside Ben Horne in Auckland's Plunket Shield team with Horne taking the keeping gloves, while Devon Conway plays as a wicket-keeper for Wellington when Blundell's absent and currently leads all Ford Trophy run-scorers - after playing over 50 First-Class and List-A games in South Africa, averaging over 40 in both formats.

When all are available, Horne is the wicket-keeper for Auckland with Phillips playing as a batsman and Blundell is the wicket-keeper for Wellington with Conway playing as a batsman. Factor in Northern Districts who have BJ Watling and Tim Seifert in the same team and omg. Then factor in that Central Districts have Dane Cleaver and Canterbury have Cameron Fletcher as well and it's safe to say that the wicket-keeping situation is fairly cluttered.

New Zealand Under-19's highest scores against Test nations: 1. Brendon McCullum, 186 v South Africa U19, Lincoln, 2001 2. Kane Williamson, 151 v England U19, Hove, 2008 3. Craig McMillan, 140 v Australia U19, Sydney, 1996 4. James Franklin, 127 v England U19, Alexandra, 1999 5.

Phillips played as a wicket-keeper in Auckland's Ford Trophy loss to Central Districts and while the cynic in me raises the idea of Lesson forcing Auckland to give Phillips that job, Horne's form hasn't demanded consistent selection. In three Ford Trophy games, Horne hit 23* and 24, before passing 30 just once (31) in seven Super Smash innings and if Horne isn't scoring runs, then pressure for his spot comes from the likes of Sean Solia and Michael Barry; both of whom bat and bowl.

If Horne's scoring runs as he did in the Plunket Shield (and last season in general) earlier this season when he was Auckland's second highest run-scorer, with more runs than Jeet Raval, Jimmy Neesham and Will Young (similar number of innings); Auckland have greater flexibility and can absorb Phillips playing as an extra batsman.

Long-term, I reckon Horne will settle into the Auckland team as the wicket-keeper across all formats which I then believe will allow Phillips to focus on what he does best. You could make a strong case that Lesson fluffed the development of Phillips by throwing him into the Blackcaps rather early in his career and this has kinda led to Phillips being pigeon-holed as a T20 wicket-keeper/bat, which as fairly beastly run-scorer in all formats, doesn't do Phillips justice.

Take a moment to ponder how drastically different the ploy to fast-track Phillips into the Blackcaps was for Lesson from their standard selection policy. These guys confuse themselves, let alone our glorious souls.

Blackcaps opportunities will come for Phillips in the various formats, but he's got to be viewed as a batsman and that will require Phillips to sit in domestic cricket, stack up all sorts of runs and wait for a Blackcaps batsman to be absent. As Auckland got rolled for 176 vs CD, Phillips top-scored with 43 batting #3 and he had a century and a not-out in four Plunket Shield innings.

Let's not overlook the fact that Phillips' best work comes in the First-Class format where he averages 40 and the format that he earned his Blackcaps call up in, is his worst format; 28.17avg in T20s which led to 16.16avg in T20 internationals. Again, Phillips has been pigeon-holed as a boundary blaster, which doesn't match perfectly with his 40.66avg/75.46sr in FC cricket.

Phillips is also genuinely capable of batting anywhere in the top-six in any of the formats and as he's only got six FC games and 20 LA games to his name, I can understand if you don't quite view Phillips as being an option in Test or ODI cricket. The signs are there that if given consistent game time in domestic cricket as a batsman, Phillips could move into the tier of batsmen consisting of George Worker, Tom Bruce, Will Young and Mark Chapman, who are putting pressure on the Blackcaps Test and ODI batsmen who haven't really been challenged recently.

Right now, Phillips is kinda in the wicket-keeper group and he's unlikely to be viewed as a genuine contender in such a savage group of wicket-keepers. Here's hoping Phillips gets to play plenty of Ford Trophy and Plunket Shield cricket in this second stanza of the season to stack up the runs and level up to that group of next-up batting talents.

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Peace and love 27.