Rod Marsh had retired as Australia's wicketkeeper at the end of the 1983–84 season and it was expected his replacement would be Roger Woolley, who kept wicket for the first two tour games. Phillips played as a specialist batsman in these games – in the first, against Leeward Islands, he made 27 and 23 (off 109 balls although he and Wessels put on 114 together. In the second, against Guyana, Phillips made 1 and 62. During the Leeward Island game, Phillips and Greg Ritchie were reprimanded for arriving 75 minutes late on day two.