Guptill out to keep it simple | Canterbury Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Canterbury

Given his current form, the ball must look the size of a watermelon to Martin Guptill.

The New Zealand opener is in prime form, his latest contributions being a 66-ball 70 in the 90-run win over Zimbabwe in the opening ODI at Dunedin followed by 77 in Monday's 141-run win in Whangarei.

The Auckland batsman is coming off a sizzling HRV Cup campaign, in which his 504 runs at 72 dwarfed the next best tallies and was critical to Auckland retaining the title.

His last four ODIs, coincidentally all against Zimbabwe, have produced 74, 105, 70, and now 77 which was his 14th half-century, to sit alongside two hundreds, one on debut against the West Indies three years ago.

Guptill's challenge is to improve his conversion rate. He admitted he was "pretty grumpy" when bowled by medium pacer Elton Chigumbura at Dunedin. Triple figures were reaching out to him - and did again in Whangarei.

"For myself, it's just about keeping things simple and sticking to my gameplan, which is looking [to play] straight early and expanding from there, not getting too far ahead of myself and waiting for the bad ball," Guptill said.

His run production in the domestic T20 boosted his confidence and he's now feeling good about his prospects of making runs every time he walks out to the crease.

"At the moment, I just feel in control of my emotions and my physical state.

"I've just had good confidence over the last few months, that's the big key to it.

"I'm backing my ability a lot more at the moment. I've just got to keep riding that wave."

Guptill, among the cleanest strikers of the ball in the country, is averaging a healthy 38.74 over 55 ODIs.

South Africa are around the corner. Bigger challenges lie ahead. But if Guptill can keep on form, he'll be ready for them when they arrive in a few weeks.

"The way Martin's playing at the moment is exceptional," his captain, Brendon McCullum, said.

"He's maturing as a cricketer and starting to put into practice the experience he's had at international level."APNZ