Newly-crowned Marsh One-Day Cup player of the tournament Josh Philippe has declared his confidence is back after a leaner than usual Big Bash League campaign.
Philippe admits this summer has been frustrating at times with runs not coming as freely for Sydney Sixers as previous years, while he’s been squeezed out of WA’s stacked Sheffield Shield side.
The prolific right-hander has had no such issues in the 50-over format, hitting a career-high 436 runs at an average of 72.66, including a century and four half-centuries.
He was named player of the match three times, helping WA win seven out of seven ahead of Wednesday’s decider against South Australia and earn a massive individual honour.
Only New South Wales veteran Daniel Hughes (548 at 78.28) scored more runs for the tournament.
“I feel like I’m back,” Philippe said of his recent form, which includes a massive second XI ton.
“It’s a nice feeling to be back in the runs.
“It’s probably a good way to sum up the year, a little bit frustrating, but one-day cricket for whatever reason has been really consistent and has been the format where I’ve most trusted my game.”
Philippe, felt like he’d been pretty consistent compared to his other formats this season, forming a dominant opening combination with D’Arcy Short.
“It’s a pretty nice feeling, I wasn’t really expecting it,” Philippe said of his player-of-the-tournament award.
“I guess in a relatively mixed year, my one-day stuff has been pretty consistent so it’s a nice cherry on top and hopefully we can get the trophy as well.”
It’s likely to be Philippe’s first of two finals this month, with regular shield gloveman Josh Inglis’ unavailability from Thursday because of One-Day International duties set to open the door for a recall.
“Ingo goes way so it looks like, fingers crossed, I can get back into that shield side for another final,” Philippe said.
