Garner made his debut for Oxfordshire in the 1973 Minor Counties Championship against Wiltshire. Garner played minor counties cricket for Oxfordshire from 1971 to 1994, which included 205 Minor Counties Championship matches[2] and 24 MCCA Knockout Trophy matches.[3] Considered to be Oxfordshire's most successful captain,[1] he led the county to the Minor Counties Championship title in 1982 and 1989. In total, he captained the county for 12 seasons but was associated with it for 23 years.[1] He scored 9,482 runs for Oxfordshire in Minor County cricket at a batting average of 29.54.[1] With his off breaks, he took 64 wickets at a bowling average of 25.11, with best figures of 5/15 against Cornwall in 1979.[1]
It was for Oxfordshire that he made his List A debut against Cornwall in the 1975 Gillette Cup. He played 15 further List A matches for Oxfordshire, the last coming against Somerset in the 1984 NatWest Trophy.[4] In his 16 List A matches for Oxfordshire, he scored 168 runs at an average of 12.92, with a high score of 53.[5] His highest List A score came against Cornwall in the 1975 Gillette Cup.[6] With the ball, he took 2 wickets at an average of 65.00, with best figures of 1/37.[7]
Outside of the county game, Garner played for and captained the England Amateur XI.[8] He played club cricket for Cowley St John and Oxford before joining Shipton-under-Wychwood. It was for Shipton-under-Wychwood that he won the Village Cup at Lord's in 2002[9] and 2003.
Outside of the game, he worked for Oxford College as head of the Department of Student Services; prior to this, he taught for many years. Garner also served on the Thames Valley Police Authority.[1] A director of amateur theatre, Garner directed a number of successful productions.[1] Living his formative years in the village of Shipton-under-Wychwood, he died in hospital in Oxford on 2 September 2009, following a short battle with a brain tumour. His wife, Mary, set up the [10] Phil Garner – Friends of SDBTT Group following his death. The group currently engages in charity fundraising for brain tumour research.
