Martin Guptill has been a stalwart of New Zealand and Auckland cricket. He will have his illustrious career celebrated in Auckland on January 4, 2024 in a Men’s Super Smash T20 game between Auckland Aces and Wellington Firebirds.
“Thank you, Gup” day will honour Guptill’s contribution to New Zealand and Auckland cricket and as a part of the celebration, Eden Park Oval will be named “The Martin Guptill Oval” for the testimonial game. Not only that, Guptill’s contribution is going to be recognised at the grassroots level and Auckland’s Men’s Premier Club T20 competition is set to be named the Martin Guptill Cup from the 2024-25 season.
Guptill has not appeared in any of the matches for New Zealand since October 2022 and in November 2022, he became a free agent and was released from his Black Caps Central contract. He insisted that the day should not be considered in anyway as his retirement celebration and that he would continue to play in different T20 and T10 leagues across the world.
Guptill is New Zealand’s leading run-getter in T20Is with 3531 runs at an average of 31.81 and a strike rate of 135.70. Only Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have scored more runs than Guptill in the history of T20I cricket. In ODI cricket, Guptill has scored 7346 runs from 198 Matches at an average of 41.5 with 39 half-centuries, 18 centuries, and 1 double hundred that came in the 2015 World Cup’s 4th QF against West Indies.
