Melbourne Renegades Signs Martin Guptill: New Zealand right-handed batter Martin Guptill joins Melbourne Renegades for the upcoming BBL 2022-23 season after being released from the New Zealand central contract list.
Melbourne Renegades Signs Martin Guptill
Melbourne Renegades Signs Martin Guptill as the replacement player for Liam Livingstone for the BBL|12 season. Though Martin Guptill remains New Zealand’s all-time leading run-scorer he has fallen out of favour with national selectors of late owing to the rise of young gun Finn Allen.
England’s Liam Livingstone who has been the No. 1 pick in the inaugural BBL draft has withdrawn from the tournament owing to an increase in international workload after his surprise inclusion in the England Test squad for their tour of Pakistan in December.
Melbourne Renegades have already signed Andre Russell as a replacement for Liam on a four-game contract to start the season while big hitter Martin Guptill will join the squad in the second half as Liam’s replacement.
“I’m excited to be joining the Renegades and am looking forward to being part of the Big Bash this season,” Guptill said in a club statement.
“This is a new challenge for me and it will be nice to call Melbourne home for the summer. I’ll be trying to make as many runs as I can to help drive the Renegades back up the ladder and push for team success.
“I’ve crossed paths with a few of the guys over the years on the international circuit and know this will be a great team environment to be part of. I can’t wait to join up with the team after Christmas and play in front of plenty of Renegades fans at Marvel Stadium and in Geelong”, Guptill added.
James Rosengarten on Martin Guptill’s Arrival
“Martin’s record over a long period of time in the shortest form of the game for New Zealand and in domestic competitions around the world speaks for itself,” Renegades James Rosengarten said.
“We know Martin will add a wealth of experience and knowledge to our playing group and look forward to seeing what he can produce in red”, he added.
Martin Guptill has played 122 T20I so far and scored 3531 runs at a strike rate of 135.70 which includes 2 hundred and 20 fifties.
As of November 2022, he is the only player to score 3500+ runs in the T20I format for New Zealand. Kane Williamson stands next to him with a score of 2464 runs at a strike rate of 123.01.
