Captain Kane Williamson hails Martin Guptill as the best white ball cricketer

New Zealand had a mixed outing in the warm-up matches of Champions Trophy 2017. They suffered a hammering defeat at the hands of India but against Sri Lanka Martin Guptill hit a brilliant hundred to take the Kiwis to a much-needed win. With that confidence on their back, the likes of Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, Neil Broom, and skipper Kane Williamson will look to showcase a strong performance against Australia later today.

But if you talk about that one Kiwi player who has become the Mr Dependable of the team, it has to be none other than Martin Guptill. He is New Zealand’s premier one-day international player and can light up their batting in the Champions Trophy as well. Skipper Williamson too echoes this opinion. He reckons opener Guptill has taken his hitting ability to another level since former captain Brendon McCullum retired 16 months ago.

“Brendon was probably the most destructive batter, especially in his last couple of years, in the white ball formats. Players move on, they retire, and your team takes a slightly different shape. Martin Guptill’s possibly our best white ball cricketer. He’s very destructive and has been playing very good cricket. Hopefully he can continue that,” he said.

New Zealand to adopt aggressive attitude 

Guptill’s opening partner for the Edgbaston clash later today will be either Luke Ronchi or Tom Latham. Whoever plays will probably also don the wicketkeeping gloves. Williamson said a decision will be made once conditions are assessed.

Meanwhile, New Zealand coach, Mike Hesson said that the team will approach this clash with an aggressive attitude. “You don’t want to go home feeling you haven’t fired a shot. We’ve had a bit of success against Australia in the recent past and we’ll certainly draw on that. We’re pretty clear how we want to play the game. It’s up to the opposition whether they allow us to do that,” he said.