‘I’ve got it covered’
Martin Guptill accepts the challenge
Martin Guptill is showing what self belief can do for a top order batsman. The New Zealand opener began the home limited-overs summer with a fine 79 off 56 balls in the ODI win over Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval on Saturday.
He has scored more ODI runs than any batsman in the game this year. With two matches left, at Christchurch today and in Nelson on New Year’s Eve, Guptill should be well past 1400 runs when the calendar flicks over. He’s at 1366, at an average of 54.64, with four centuries and seven fifties.
Guptill quipped that as he’s had 30 innings, more than his closest rivals, he should be at the top, but it’s been a sharp contrast to how the early part of last summer panned out for the tall Aucklander.
From the time South Africa arrived for their early pre-World Cup reconnaissance trip in late October last year, till Pakistan turned up just before the World Cup in February, the 29-year-old amassed just 218 runs in 12 innings at 19. It’s a distant memory now. “I was very defensive last year, but this year I’ve got more confidence and I’m hitting the ball a lot better, so I can play my part as well and contribute to us getting off to better starts,” he said.
Guptill’s 156 against Sri Lanka in the first test at Dunedin didn’t hurt either, after a disappointing test tour of Australia.
“You go through periods in your career when you’re not so confident in how you’re going. Things don’t quite go your way and everything you try doesn’t seem to work.
“The start of last summer was one of those times. I’ve come through that. I’ve got more confidence to go out and be more positive from ball one.”
He’s made a couple of adjustments, which he doesn’t want to elaborate on other than to call it “a bit of drilling” but Guptill relishes the short form game.
That seems his natural habitat, especially after his terrific World Cup, when he battered the West Indies for an unbeaten 237 in Wellington as part of topping the run chart for the tournament with 447 at 55.
“I love playing the one-dayers and T20, going out and trying to have a bit of fun, and express myself the best I can when I get into the coloured clothing.”
Guptill will have to settle in with a new ODI opening partner soon, with Brendon McCullum quitting international cricket in late February.
Expect first dibs to go to Tom Latham, his test opening partner who also has a strong record going in at the top in ODIs.
The Canterbury lefthander has played 33 ODIs, averaging 31.03. In the 12 he’s opened in, Latham’s average leaps to 46.8.
In Zimbabwe and South Africa last August, Latham opened six times, scoring 14, 110 not out, 16, 60, 64 and 54 — 318 runs at 63.6.
That century, at Harare, came in a 10-wicket win, Guptill also hitting a century in an unbroken 236-run stand, New Zealand’s third highest for any wicket, so the pair do have previous form together.
I was very defensive last year but I’ve got more confidence to go out and be more positive from ball one.
Martin Guptill