New Zealand is great Martin Guptill brought down the curtains on his illustrious international career. A batsman of the highest order, he plied his trade in all three formats for New Zealand and was one of the best openers in the world for the better part of his career.
Martin Guptill made his New Zealand debut in January 2009 during a home ODI series Vs West Indies. In February of the same year, he made his T20I debut, followed by his first Test the following month.
He last played for the New Zealand national team in 2022. In total, the right-handed batsman has represented the Black Caps in over 350 games across the three formats. He played 198 ODIs, 122 T20Is and 47 Tests for the national team. Guptill scored 3531 runs in T20Is and holds the record for most T20I runs by a New Zealand player.
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In ODIs, he scored 7,346 runs and is third behind his former teammates in the list of most ODI runs by New Zealand. Ross Taylor and Stephen Fleming. He scored 2586 runs in Tests. Along with scoring 76 half-centuries, Guptill has scored a total of 23 centuries across formats.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play for New Zealand as a young kid and I feel incredibly lucky and proud to have played 367 games for my country,” said Martin Guptill.
“I will forever cherish the memories of wearing the silver fern with a great group of boys.
“I want to say a big thank you to all my team-mates and coaching staff over the years, especially Mark O’Donnell, who coached me under 19s and has been a constant source of support and wisdom throughout my career.” he added.
Speaking afterwards, Guptill said: “To my wife Laura and our beautiful children Harley and Teddy – thank you. Thank you Laura for all the sacrifices you have made for me and our family. You have been my biggest supporter, my rock and my wife. Through all the ups and downs that come with the game I consulted the hills.
“Finally, I’d like to thank all the cricket fans here in NZ and around the world for their support over the years.”
Although Guptill has retired from international cricket, he will continue to play domestic cricket and T20 franchise cricket. He is currently leading the Auckland Aces in the ongoing Super Smash.
The illustrious career of Martin Guptill:
That Martin Guptill was going to do big things was abundantly clear when he became the first New Zealander to make his ODI debut in 2009. He was successful against West Indies at Eden Park. Martin Guptill was included in the ICC’s World ODI XI that year.
Later in 2015, he also became the first player from his country to score an ODI double century. Guptill holds the record for three of New Zealand’s top four individual ODI scores. He also scored two centuries in the shortest format of the game in addition to scoring three Test centuries.
In total, he scored more than 13,000 runs in international cricket for New Zealand between 2009 and 2022.
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