New Zealand opener Martin Guptill is facing a race against time to get fit for the Australia tour. Guptill picked up a moderate calf strain, playing for Auckland against Wellington during a Ford Trophy match on January 3. The opener had to retire hurt on the score of 32 and didn’t come back.
New Zealand is set to travel to Australia on January 24 for a series of 3 ODIs and one T20I. The first ODI will be played on January 30 in Perth. Before the series, they are also scheduled to play one warm-up game at the same venue on January 27.
Guptill scored 152 runs with a strike rate of 163.44 in the last T20I series against India
“BLACKCAPS and Auckland Aces opener Martin Guptill is hopeful of a late January return to cricket after an MRI scan confirmed a tear in his left calf,” New Zealand Cricket released a statement.
“NZC’s Medical Staff described the tear as moderate; said his condition was improving and that the injury would continue to be monitored during a period of rehabilitation, Guptill and NZC Medical Staff are tentatively targeting a return in the Auckland Aces January 22 Dream11 Super Smash match against the Central Stags,” the release added.
Martin Guptill was in tremendous form in the last T20I series against India as he scored 152 runs in 3-matches with a strike rate of 163.44.
Previously Guptill scored 384 runs in 10 ODI innings with a hundred and a fifty. Though the Kiwis haven’t enjoyed touring Australia of late. They couldn’t win a single ODI since Feb 2009 in Australia. The story is pretty much the same in T20Is as they lost all three T20Is in Australia.
Meanwhile, the schedule of their tour might be changed due to stricter guidelines of Western Australia where their first game was scheduled to play on January 30. According to the current schedule, they will play 2nd and 3rd ODI at Hobart and Sydney respectively. The only T20I is scheduled to play at Canberra on February 8.
This tour will be also one of the few assignments for Ross Taylor who is set to retire from all forms of cricket after an ODI series against the Netherlands at home which is scheduled to play in March-April.
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