Martin Guptill races against time to be fully fit ahead of Australia tour

Martin Guptill who suffered a calf injury during the Ford Trophy one-day competition might not be fit enough when New Zealand tour Australia later this month. He suffered the injury during the 8th match of the tournament on January 3 which forced him to retire hurt after scoring 32 runs off 35 balls. Guptill is planning to make his return for the January 22 game of the Auckland Aces in the Super Smash.

New Zealand is scheduled to play three ODIs and one T20I against Australia, which will start on January 30. The schedule might change because of the border restrictions in Western Australia. New Zealand will be going for this series without the Test players because of the quarantine rules while returning back home and the Test series against South Africa will be starting from February 17.

NZC statement said, Guptill “was improving and that the injury would continue to be monitored during a period of rehabilitation”.

Guptill will be a key player for New Zealand on the tour to Australia which will contain several inexperienced players. He has played 25 ODIs against Australia and has made 825 runs at an average of 34.37. In 13 T20Is, Guptill has made 463 runs at an average of 35.61 and a strike rate of 144.23.

It will be the last Australia tour for New Zealand veteran Ross Taylor

Ross Taylor is currently playing the second Test match against Bangladesh and will retire from Test cricket after this game. The ODI series and the only T20I against Australia will be a part of his last few games. Taylor will draw a curtain to his international career with the home series against the Netherlands which will be played in March-April.

The Netherlands is scheduled to play a T20I on March 25 in Mount Maunganui followed by three ODIs. The last ODI of the series will be played in Hamilton which is also Taylor’s hometown. Taylor is the first Blackcaps player to play over 100 matches in each format of the game. He has scored 8581 runs in 233 ODIs which is the most by a New Zealand player. His 21 centuries in ODIs is also a record for New Zealand.