Glenn Phillips 'feeling really strong' but cautious about return from injury

New Zealand allrounder Glenn Phillips is "feeling really strong" right now and has returned to training, but is cautious about his return to top-flight cricket from a long injury lay-off.

Phillips, 28, has not played competitive cricket since he suffered a groin injury while playing for Washington Freedom in the Major League Cricket (MLC) final in July. He had suffered a similar injury during his IPL stint with Gujarat Titans in April.

"Yeah, obviously when you do both groins the rehab and recovery is a little bit longer, so I guess things are coming along really nicely," Phillips said. "I'm feeling really strong and now it's just about loading it up and getting ready to play at some stage."

Phillips missed the Zimbabwe tour and home series against Australia, England and West Indies. The injury also sidelined him from the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) where he was due to represent Guyana Amazon Warriors. He has since trained with his domestic team Otago Volts and more recently with New Zealand in the lead-up to the fifth T20I against West Indies in Dunedin.

"Obviously, we would always like to be back sooner rather than later, but at the end of the day it's really just around the loading side of things. Once my leg has been loaded enough to be able to perform the way that I do in the field is the main thing. I guess it comes down to if I give everything 100% and if at 100% I'm a little bit weak then we're not ready to go, so we'll just wait until that stage."

Phillips suggested he will test his match fitness in domestic cricket before he returns to action for New Zealand. The one-day Ford Trophy is heading into a break after five rounds, with the 100th season of the four-day Plunket Shield beginning on November 18. While Glenn's brother Dale moved from Dunedin to Auckland ahead of the season, Glenn remained with Otago.

"At this stage no date in mind, we're just seeing things as we go and I'd imagine it'll be for Otago before coming back to the Black Caps side of things," Phillips said. "You definitely need to test things in an environment before going to the international scene. Obviously when you play in international cricket you're required to give as much as you possibly can in each game, and until I'm ready to do that we'll keep loading as we go.

"Yeah, well that [Plunket Shield] will be the hope, but as we said it's very much around where my leg is at that point in time. We're moving strong and we're moving in the right direction, but yeah we just need that time on the feet and the time doing the actual fielding, loading to get it right and make sure that there's no risk of getting injured again in the game."

Having last played for New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final in Dubai in March, Phillips was pleased to reunite with his team-mates in Dunedin on Wednesday.

"Yeah, it's great, it [Dunedin] is obviously a little bit of a home, so I'm feeling with the boys here and getting back to see guys that I haven't seen in a while," Phillips said. "You know we go around the world quite often and meet different boys and different teams, but to come back here it does give that sense of home and that sense of belonging with a family that you know."

Phillips was proud of his Otago team-mate Jacob Duffy's rise from a domestic workhorse to the leader of the current New Zealand attack. Duffy, 31, was the No.1-ranked T20I bowler until recently and in the ongoing T20I series against West Indies, he has been impeccable with his lengths and lines, especially in the powerplay.

"Yeah he [Duffy] has been fantastic," Phillips said. "He talks about trying to get the ball up there and swinging it and doing what he does best and I think he's done that fantastically over the summer and also the last summer as well. He works so hard the whole time through and he's got a lot of variations he's constantly trying to get better and I think that comes forward in the games.

"He has opportunities where things don't necessarily go his way and then when they do he really makes them count which is fantastic and I suppose that's what being a cricketer is all about."