Josh Philippe

Regarded as one of the brightest batting prospects in Australia, particularly in limited-overs cricket, wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Philippe was given his first taste of the international set-up for the 2020 tour of England which took place amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Philippe's call-up came on the back of an outstanding Big Bash campaign for the Sydney Sixers where he was Man of the Match in the final and finished the tournament with three half-centuries in four innings. He is a wonderful timing of the ball with the full 360-degree range of shots, his power in display during the 2019-2020 BBL when he launched a six onto the roof of the pavilion at the SCG.

Philippe made his BBL for the Perth Scorchers before being snapped up by the Sixers and he continues to play his state cricket for Western Australia. He has shown his potential in the 50-over game, scoring runs at an impressive rate without yet converting into big scores although a quirk of his first 13 matches was that he had reached double figures every innings. There had also been a notable half-century for the Prime Minister's XI in 2018 against a strong South African attack featuring Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi.

He had announced himself as a top-order batsman of immense talent for the Western Australia 2nd XI when he made 88 off 92 balls against England's Test attack at the WACA in 2017-18. While his first-class average remains modest for now there were signs of consistency emerging towards the end of the 2019-2020 season. He had scored a maiden hundred in just his fifth Shield match.
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