Martin Guptill’s 237* was a statistician’s dream – highest World Cup score, first double century and highest ODI score by a New Zealander – the list goes on.
It’s obvious to say innings like these don’t happen every day, and Guptill there was nothing out of the ordinary about Saturday.
“I had a bit of a sleep in, and I had some breakfast, a light breakfast, and went down early and hit on the ball machine with the coach. Then I went out and did what I did. So nothing really too special and that's what happened.
“I'm not sure what happened today to be honest. It hasn't sunk in yet. I was proud of what happened today. Hopefully, we can win another game and another one after that. So just pretty proud to have scored that many runs and get the win as well,” said Guptill.
After a sluggish start to the domestic summer, he couldn’t have come into a purple patch at a better time, and it’s partly due to working with NZ Test great Martin Crowe recently to hone his technique.
“We’ve mainly been working on foot work stuff and lining up the ball a bit better than I had been. Trying to get the ball back a lot straighter instead of trying to play too square too early. They’ve been the main things. I think it's working pretty well at the moment.
“Martin texted yesterday and said good luck. You know, try to hit the gaps and that sort of thing. It was nice to hear from him. He's over in Sydney watching it. I haven't had a text from him yet, but hopefully I'll get one soon,” said Guptill.
Guptill has deservedly got the plaudits for an innings under pressure that appeared so effortless, but was the result of a serious amount of work put in to refining his technique, a quality Head Coach Mike Hesson admires:
“Martin works hard at his game, he’s pretty hard on himself and he searches for as much advice as he can. He certainly puts that into practice and deserves everything he gets. He gets to the ground early and hits the balls early, he’s that sort of player, likes to hit the ball and feel good about himself.
“The way the innings was paced, he set the tone early by playing nice and straight, he adapted to conditions then he pretty much timed every ball from ball 30 on. It was nice to see him get on a roll, and the fact he’s gone from a hundred to get a big hundred that determined the outcome of the game was very pleasing,” said Hesson.
As it happened, the most recent ODI double centurion was in the field, and was one of the first to offer congratulations.
“Yeah, Chris Gayle came up to me and said congratulations, welcome to the league. That was quite funny. But everyone was pretty congratulatory and just right behind him,” said Guptill.
