BLACKCAPS opener Martin Guptill became the fastest Kiwi to 5000 ODI runs at the SCG on Sunday night, arriving at the milestone in his 132nd innings, bettering Ross Taylor by 12 knocks.
The 30-year-old was at his swashbuckling best in Sydney, smashing six sixes and 10 fours in a thrilling 114 from 102 ball innings, which gave the BLACKCAPS hope in a daunting chase.
Guptill’s the 10th fastest to the 5000 ODI run mark in the history of the game.
To put that into context, he’s arrived at the milestone quicker than Indian great Sachin Tendulkar, South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, Australia’s Ricky Ponting and West Indian powerhouse Chris Gayle,
BLACKCAPS coach Mike Hesson couldn’t say enough for his explosive opener.
“It’s a fantastic achievement by Martin and he should be very proud, as everyone in the group is.”
“Last night’s knock was as good as I’ve seen him bat. He’s got huge power down the ground. He’s got long leavers so he can turn good length balls into scoring opportunities. He’s also able to pull and cut so the bowlers have a small margin for error.”
“But it’s not just the runs he’s scored, it’s actually the amount of games he’s won for his country that sticks in my memory. Often when Martin scores runs we get over the line and a lot of that is because he takes their best bowlers on up front and gets us off to a good start.”
“He’s a massive part of our squad, a good team man and with the World Cup in a few years time he’s hopefully going to play a huge role in that for us,” Hesson said.
Guptill’s also climbing the six hitting list, running at close to one a game and with his strike rate currently 86.6 he can rightly be considered one of the best ball strikers the game has seen.
Add to this his superb fielding skills and you can understand Guptill’s immense value to the BLACKCAPS.
Fastest to 5000 ODI runs - New Zealand
132 - M Guptill
144 - R Taylor
147 - N Astle
180 - S Fleming
191 - B McCullum
Fastest to 5000 ODI runs - World
101 - H Amla
114 - V Richards
114 - V Kohli
118 - B Lara
121 - G Greenidge
124 - AB de Villiers
126 - S Ganguly
128 - D Jones
131 - G Smith
132 - M Guptill
Guptill smashes into record books
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