Guptill is leaving the sport as New Zealand’s top T20 run-scorer as he had scored 3,531 runs in 122 games. After Stephen Fleming and Ross Taylor, he is third on New Zealand’s all-time record as he has 7,346 runs in ODIs.

Guptill made a remarkable debut in 2009 when NZ defeated West Indies at Eden Park, and became the first player from NZ to hit a century in his maiden ODI. Later that same year, he also got selected for the ICC’s World ODI XI.

Guptill stated that playing for the Blackcaps was his childhood dream and that he felt very fortunate and happy that he got the chance to represent his country in 367 games. The 38-year-old even expressed gratitude to his coaches and teammates through the years.

“As a young kid it was always my dream to play for New Zealand and I feel incredibly lucky and proud to have played 367 games for my country. I will forever cherish the memories made wearing the silver fern alongside a great group of guys. I want to say a huge thanks to all my teammates and coaching staff over the years, in particular Mark O’Donnell, who has coached me since the Under 19 level and been a source of ongoing support and wisdom over my career,” said Guptill.

“A special thanks must also go to my manager Leanne McGoldrick – all of the work behind the scenes never went unnoticed and I’ll be forever appreciative of all your support. To my wife Laura and our beautiful children Harley and Teddy – thank-you. Thank you Laura for the sacrifices you have made for me and our family. You’ve been my biggest supporter, my rock and my counsel through all of the ups and downs that come with the game. I am eternally grateful. Finally I’d like to thank all the cricket fans, here in NZ and around the world for all their support throughout the years,” he added

The most memorable moment of Guptill’s career was when he made 237 not-out in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup quarterfinal against West Indies in Wellington. His 189 not-out against England in 2013, along with 180 not-out against South Africa are some other

The post Few weeks before Champions Trophy, Legendary New Zealand batter announces retirement from International cricket appeared first on Cricket Country.

Dubai is considered as the neutral venue for all the matches involving India. The Men In Blue are in the same group with Bangladesh, New Zealand, and Pakistan, and the much awaited IND v PAK clash will also be held in Dubai.

India will face Bangladesh as their opening match on February 20. After that, they will face their historic-rivals Pakistan on February 23. The team will then have a gap of six days before their final group stage match against New Zealand on 2nd March.

ICC has also made it clear that all the tournaments that are going to be hosted by India or Pakistan, are going to take place at a neutral venue till 2028. The tournament is going to begin February 19 and is going to end on March 9, along with March 10 being a reserve day.

Group A – Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Bangladesh
Group B – South Africa, Australia, Afghanistan, England

The post Champions trophy 2025 schedule: India’s matches to be held on… appeared first on Cricket Country.

“So I didn’t have the mental package to be a professional sports player. So at 28 I was deeply in depression and then went to India, and was dragged, sucked into that fixing world. It was pretty easy to see how it happened,” Vincent told ‘The Telegraph’ in a candid conversation.

“I felt like I was part of a gang. It almost made me feel better, because I am thinking: ‘I am part of a match-fixing gang, I am with a group that’s going to have my back and nobody knows our little secret,’ he added.

“I think that’s how most bike gangs work with young kids. Yeah, they sort of groom young kids into ‘we’ll look after you but go drive that car through the shop and smash it up‘.” he concluded.

Vincent even revealed that he felt alone as he was growing in his teen years. He was low on his confidence level as he used to get low scores, and people often used to take advantage of this weakness.

“I literally raised myself from the age of 12, so I was always quite malleable to people around me. Because I wanted to be loved, you’re easily led astray,” he recalled.

“And, you know, that contributed massively towards my professional career of just wanting to be liked, wanting to be loved, and sort of sharing how I was feeling on tour,” he added.

Though Vincent did not get any sort of direct threat from the other people who were involved in the allegations of match-fixing, he was still aware of the dangers that lurked for him.

“When you’re in that world, it’s hard to get out. There’s always a very underlying threat of ‘we know you, we know your kids’. You know, there’s never a direct threat. But they make it very clear that they’re involved with some pretty heavy underground gangs. And, ‘you owe us, and you always will owe us’. Even if you’ve completed the fixing, they own you. It’s hard to get out, and the only way to get out was literally the way I did (confess),” said the 46-year-old.

Vincent shared his thanks to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), as they helped him coming in terms with his past. ECB has handed 11 life bans for match-fixing. The board has allowed him to play a role in domestic cricket last year.

“Coming clean and approaching the players’ association and telling them what was happening, ‘where do we go from here?’, was the start of turning it around. The ECB were great to deal with. It’s taken a good decade but you can’t rush healing. It is still a daily check sometimes. But those moments of going down are very short now instead of it being hours or days or weeks,” he said.

Vincent made his Test debut in 2001, and scored a century against Australia in Perth. He has scores 1,332 runs from 23 Test matches. In 102 ODIs, he has scored 2,413 runs. He has also played 9 T20Is and scored 174 runs.

The post ‘Was Deeply in Depression…’: Former New Zealand batter speaks up on How he got Involved in Match-Fixing appeared first on Cricket Country.

After the teams got penalized, New Zealand now have a points percentage of 47.92. Even if they win all the remaining Tests of the series against England, they can only reach up to 55.36%. As a result of this point deduction, New Zealand have now been dropped from their position from joint-fourth to fifth in the standings.

New Zealand will now face a tough task if they want to qualify for the nest year’s one-off Test in June 2025. Two wins against England and many other results also need to go in the way of the BlackCaps if they wish to reach the Lord’s decider match.

When time allowances were taken into consideration, both New Zealand and England were both found to have ben three overs short of the target. This resulted in both the sides being penalized one point for each over they have been short.

The post New Zealand take a Massive Point deduction by ICC for the World Test Championship appeared first on Cricket Country.

New Zealand remained fourth on WTC points table, but their win percentage dropped to 50. This loss marked their sixth loss in 12 games. A cleansweep against England earlier on would have resulted in them with a win percentage of 64.21.

If New Zealand manages to win the series 2-1 against England, the team will still need to get some backing from other sides in order to reach their second WTC final.

England on the other hand kept their sixth place in the points table as they won 10th game out of 20 matches. The team does not have a chance of qualifying for their maiden WTC Final. They currently have a win percentage of 43.75.

The post WTC Points Table: New Zealand’s hope of reaching WTC Finals suffer MASSIVE blow after 8-wicket loss to England appeared first on Cricket Country.

As he spoke at the post-match conference, Rohit took the blame for the defeat and said that his decision to bat first was the thing which set the role for series defeat.

“I take complete responsibility, starting with the toss in Bengaluru and many tactical errors throughout the series. I have not been at my best and that probably cost us the series,” admitted Rohit Sharma.

After the whole Day 1 being washed out in the 1st Test due to rain, Rohit decided to bat on Day 2. It resulted in Indian team being wrapped up at 46 all out, which has come out to be their lowest total at home.

Since then, India have almost always been on the low side in all the matches when facing New Zealand. Inconsistent batting from the Indian lineup is what hasn’t helped the team.

The post “Cost us the series…”: Rohit Sharma’s confession after India’s defeat to New Zealand appeared first on Cricket Country.

Here is how New Zealand media reacted:

Stuff.co.nz: In the space of 19 days on Indian soil, the Black Caps produced results that the cricketing world had previously considered impossible. An 8-wicket win in Bengaluru, followed by 113-run win in Pune and a 25-run win in Mumbai. 3 losses for Indian team on home soil.

NZ Herald: Each triumph on this unforgettable tour exceeded the previous. An 8-wicket success in Bengaluru, a 113-run victory in Pune. Mumbai though? The 25-run result in Mumbai capped the Test that belonged to the hosts. Evan Latham must have wondered whether it was possible,

Otago Daily Times: New Zealand completed arguably their greatest ever Test series with a series sweep of India in India last night. Set 146 to win in fourth innings, Rohit Sharma threw first punch by stepping out of crease but the skipper’s disappointing form continued when he fell for 11 after a shot against Matt Henry.

1news.co.nz: Rishabh Pant was the lone resistance for hosts with 64 off 57 balls, which included 9 fours and a six, but his countering half century went to vain as India lost last three wickets in four balls.

The post Rohit Sharma insulted: New Zealand media’s reaction to cleansweep against India appeared first on Cricket Country.

CSK is one of the most followed franchise of the league, and the reason behind their popularity is all because of former skipper MS Dhoni.

Recently, CSK posted a tweet with lot of emojis, and fans are making speculations that all these emojis hint about the player they are to retain. This post has a lot of emojis that hint towards various players, that has created quite a stir among fans.

💛😍🔥🤝✅🌟
💪🧑‍🍳⚡🦁🕸️⚓
🚀🧨🏏🥊🛶🎯
🏓🎤🎩⏳🚁🔍
🛡️⚔️🧸🥝🎠🤞
The Ones You Seek is Seeking You!

Tap the 🔗 – https://t.co/MNwIFDgxBK
and play the #DeadlineDay now! #WhistlePodu #Retentions2025

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) October 29, 2024

The helicopter emoji is hinting as an approval to MS Dhoni. The Kiwi fruit emoji points towards a New Zealand player. Apart from that, fans have interpreted that the sword and horse emoji referring to be Ravindra Jadeja. The explanation given is that whenever Jadeja scores a half century, he makes a celebration by swinging his bat like a sword, plus he has a passion for horse riding.

The post Strange Tweet by CSK sparks theory related to retentions for IPL 2025 mega auctions appeared first on Cricket Country.

New Zealand Cricket stated in a media release that Amelia is going to head back on October 27 in order to go for rehabilitation. After she gets taken for scans, it will take her at least three weeks to recover.

New Zealand head coach, Ben Sawyer, stated how he is disappointed about Amelia missing out on the series.

“We’re really gutted for Melie(Amelia), Injuries are always a challenging time for a player and we know how disappointed she is to not be able to play these games,” said Ben.

There has not been any announcement for her replacement as of now.

The post Huge obstacle for New Zealand: Star all-rounder rested from India series appeared first on Cricket Country.

After a loss in the 1st Test in Bengaluru, India controlled the Pune Test as they bowled out the visitors for 259 on Day 1. However a collapse in batting on Day 2 put India in a dangerous situation, as they got bowled out at just 156.

Fans are getting more and more concerned about India’s ability to reach WTC final for the third consecutive time. Even though they lead the WTC points table, Indian team might face a significant hit to their standings if they lose the Test in Pune. South Africa’s chance to secure a place in the finals would increase significantly if India loses.

If India want to secure a spot in the final of WTC 2023-25, they will have to make sure they do not lose any single Test. The team will also have to secure two draws to secure the spot.

The post EXPLAINED: How can India make it to WTC Finals if they lose 2nd New Zealand Test? appeared first on Cricket Country.