My team, New Zealand did very well at this year’s Cricket World Cup,held, jointly between my home country and our noisy neighbours, Australia. One of the key members of the ‘Black Caps’ was opening batsman, Martin Guptill. However, leading up to the tournament, he wasn’t filling the supporters with a lot of confidence, scoring three ducks (that’s 0, for non-cricketing types and aquatic bird fanciers) in warm-up matches. Thankfully that all changed as ‘Marty two-toes’ ( as he’s nicknamed due to a forklift accident that caused the loss of three toes) belted 2 50’s, a century and 237 not out on New Zealand’s way to the final. The unbeaten 237 was against the West Indies in the quarter final at Westpac Stadium in NZ’s capital, Wellington on 21 March.It is the highest individual score at a World Cup, scored from only 163 balls, including 11 sixes and 24 fours. He was the first kiwi cricketer to reach a ‘double-ton’ in One Day Internationals (ODI’s) and only one of five to achieve the milestone. The Caps went on to post 393/6, which is the best team total in a World Cup knockout match..oh yes, and we won! Martin was awarded the Best Batsman title for the Tournament,scoring the most runs.

To commemorate the feat (minus three toes), I drew this drawing and tried to get Martin to sign it in person at the Kia Oval, after their thrilling win over England in the recent ODI Series over here in the UK. But after waiting for two hours the team bus picked them up at another gate, so I missed out. I sent it to Trent Bridge in Nottingham where they played the 4th match and it came back signed.Good score!