The 237 aside, to New Zealand, Martin Guptill is just plain old Guppy

Anand Vasu in Wellington

The name’s Martin. Martin Guptill.

Even if you say that in Sean Connery’s thickest Scottish brogue, there isn’t the slightest bit of 007 to Guppy. He smiles too easily, Martin Guptill, and does not have a taste for the dramatic. At least when he’s speaking. With the bat, he was quite sensational at the Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday (March 21), but when he tried to explain just what he had done, blasting an unbeaten 237, Martin was back to being good old Guppy.

You might ask whats in a name, but for someone bearing the same name as the most feted batsman New Zealand has produced, Guptill speaks softly, and with a light touch, about Crowe, who has been a mentor of sorts, especially over the last few months.

“Yeah, he texted yesterday and said good luck. You know, try to hit the gaps and that sort of thing,” said young Martin of the man who is many a New Zealand batsman’s idol and gold standard. “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.”

Crowe will no doubt get in touch, not least because he has been generous in sharing his insights and advice with Guptill.

“We talked mainly about footwork stuff, and lining up the bowlers a bit better than I had been,” said Guptill. “We spoke about trying to get the ball back a lot straighter instead of trying to play too square too early. That’s been the main thing. I think it’s working pretty well at the moment.”

Its no coincidence then, that Guptill’s best innings was built on a base of playing straight back past the bowler, with long-on and long-off being the chosen areas to pick off boundaries early in the innings.

While the cricket world was going gaga over Guptill’s innings, a tour de force double-hundred in a knockout match, the magnitude of his achievement clearly had not registered with the man himself.

“I’m not sure what happened today to be honest. It hasn’t sunk in yet. I was proud of what happened today,” said Guptill. “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.”

When asked what it felt like to hear his name ring around the stadium, a record crowd going ballistic in unison, Guptill was his usual nonchalant self.

:Yeah, it’s pretty cool. I’ve never had anything like that before and for it to be here in New Zealand is even better, and to be in a quarterfinals is pretty special as well," said Guptill, insisting he had done nothing very different on the day. “I had a bit of a sleep in this morning, and I had a light breakfast, and went down to the ground early and had a hit against the bowling machine, with the coach. Then I went out and did what I did. So nothing really too special and that’s what happened.”

Chris Gayle was one of the West Indian players who went up to Guptill at the end of the innings, offering a warm handshake and some words.

“Yeah, Chris came up to me and said congratulations, welcome to the (200) league. That was quite funny,” said Guptill, who conceded that he never imagined he would achieve something like this, when he had his forklift accident as a 14-year-old. “Back then I didn’t think I’d ever play for New Zealand. I’m lucky enough to have had the opportunity to represent my country and I’m loving it at the moment.”

And all of New Zealand is loving their Guppy, their favourite Martin at the moment.

This piece was first published on the Wisden India website.