Martin Guptill blasts double century as New Zealand beat West Indies

Sat, Mar 21, '15

It didn't seem right to simply label this a Cricket World Cup quarterfinal. The whirlwind that hit Westpac Stadium contained the Harlem Globetrotters of cricket in a Twenty20 match on steroids, as New Zealand won by 143 runs. Victory over West Indies, and direct passage to Auckland for a blockbuster semifinal against South Africa on Tuesday, was hardly in doubt from the point Martin Guptill reached his seventh one-day international century, off a sedate 111 deliveries.

Then it all just went a bit crazy at the Cake Tin. And so did the packed house of 30,268, screaming and chanting Guptill's name and almost lifting the roof, which he clattered with one of his 11 sixes, a 110-metre monster strike. Add his name to the honour roll of Craig McMillan, Michael Lumb and Colin Munro among those who sat a white Kookaburra on the hot tin roof in Wellington.

Guptill obliterated record after record and just kept swinging for an unbeaten 237 off 163 balls, the innings of his life that most adjectives didn't do justice to. He broke his own New Zealand ODI record of 189 not out, against England in Southampton in June 2013, and joined Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma as those to top 200 in an ODI. Only Sharma's 264 for India against Sri Lanka in Kolkata last year sits ahead of him.

full report and video highlights at stuff.nz.co