Time running out for Martin Guptill

Guptill is one of the most popular men in the team. He is smart and engaging and a terrific one-day batsman. But at test level Guptill is just not good enough. He is a poor player of spin and he is a caught behind waiting to happen against top-class seam bowlers. 

Mumbai’s 29-year-old journeyman Balwinder Singh Sandu said this after dismissing Guptill in the warmup match: “The plan for Guptill was basic. Just try and hit the good length area and bowl a fourth-slip line. That was the plan and I think it was successful.” But then cricket is a basic game. The great Glenn McGrath made a career out of hitting a fourth stump line for over after over. The trouble with Guptill is that a seamer doesn’t need such prolonged periods of consistency. Sandu got him out in the fourth over. In the second innings the left-arm spinner dismissed Guptill without scoring. 

Ahead of this series, selector Gavin Larsen said of Guptill’s inclusion in the team, “I don’t think the decision was tough. Guppy has experience in sub-continent conditions and we still believe if he plays his natural game and transfers that white ball style to tests he can be a very successful test match cricketer.” 

His previous seven Test match scores against India on the sub-continent were 18, 6, 0, 2, 16, 53 and 7 at an average of 14.6. 

Outside the sub-continent, the most comparable conditions are to be found in Sri Lanka. Over there Guptill’s previous eight Test match scores are 24, 18, 35, 28, 11, 13, 4, 11, at an average of 18. Guptill does have experience in sub-continent conditions and it is nearly all bad.