Ralph Roland "Ricey" Phillips (28 February 1920 – 26 November 2008) was a South African cricketer who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

for

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

from 1939 to 1957.

Life and career

Ricey Phillips was born in East London. His nickname came from a childhood fondness for rice pudding. His older brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

played for Border in the 1930s before Ricey's career began. Ricey Phillips was an opening batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler. He began his first-class career aged 19 in 1939–40, the last South African season before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

intervened. In his fifth match, the last of the season, he was asked to bowl for the first time. He promptly took a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

with the third, fourth and fifth balls of his first over, and finished the innings with 5 for 38 from 40 deliveries. During the war Phillips served with the South African forces in North Africa and was captured at

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near ...

. While being transported as a prisoner-of-war to Germany across Italy he escaped and managed to get to England. He played some war-time cricket there before returning to South Africa, where he re-enlisted. When Phillips resumed his first-class career in 1946–47 he scored 93, 33, 62, 53

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

, 139 and 27 in his first three matches. He finished the summer with 531 runs at an average of 59.00 and was widely considered to be unlucky to miss out on the 1947 tour of England. His form was more moderate thereafter, although he was included in the Cape Province team that played against the touring MCC in 1948–49, a virtual Test trial. He had one further bowling success, when he took the last six North Eastern Transvaal wickets to fall in a

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

match in 1950–51, finishing with figures of 6 for 36. Phillips was also a good

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player and was chosen to play in

Springbok The springbok (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is a medium-sized antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first described by the German zoologist Eberhard August Wilhelm ...

trials in 1949.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Ricey 1920 births 2008 deaths South African cricketers Border cricketers Cricketers from East London, South Africa South African military personnel of World War II South African prisoners of war South African rugby union players