KEY POINTS:
Martin Guptill and Tim McIntosh share more in common than being top-order Auckland batsmen.
They are a good indicator that the depth of batting talent in New Zealand is slowly improving and that means the days of batsmen holding their place as of right through lack of challengers are fading.
McIntosh's century in his second test against the West Indies in Napier was manna for the selectors; so too Guptill's fine ODI hundred on debut against the tourists at Eden Park on Saturday.
Plenty of batsmen have been tried in the top six in both test and ODI forms of the game since the start of last season. Several, in one or both versions, have been successful, notably McIntosh, Daniel Flynn, Jesse Ryder, Guptill and Ross Taylor.
The pool of batsmen is growing and captain Dan Vettori is delighted.
"We've been crying out to produce batsmen of international quality so guys are putting pressure on incumbents the whole time," he said.
"It's always been the case in New Zealand cricket that once you've made the team as a batsman it's been difficult to get out of it. Now we're building a pool of players at the A and Emerging Players levels who can come up and show they can perform at this level."
Guptill's 122 not out from the team's 275 for four smacked of a young batsman brimming with confidence in his capabilities.
Allied to fellow debutant Neil Broom's rapid 24 not out off 17 balls, it made it a good day for the selectors, even if the weather ruined what promised to be a fascinating fourth ODI, the West Indies getting to 64 for none in just 10.3 overs. The trick for both Guptill and Broom, starting in the fifth and final ODI at Napier tomorrow, is to build consistency.
In both cases, Saturday was just a start, albeit a highly encouraging one.
Guptill, 22, had his share of luck along the way, being dropped three times, but he showed a cool head, fine shotmaking ability all round the wicket and importantly held his nerve.
"Cricket does funny things and who knows I could have got out at any stage there," he admitted.
His innings lasted 153 balls with eight fours and two sixes, the first of which brought up his century.
"It was a spur of the moment thing," Guptill said. "At first I thought I might have got under it too much, but then it kept going."
He eclipsed Stephen Fleming's 90 as New Zealand's highest individual score on ODI debut and shared a 144-run third wicket stand with Ross Taylor, whose fine 75 was a continuation of a strong display in New Zealand's win in Wellington during the week.
Guptill and Broom then whacked 56 in just 5.4 overs. By then, Guptill, who lost three toes on his left foot in an accident when he was 13, had justified the selectors' faith in him; Broom's innings, in a much smaller way, emphasised it had been a doubly successful day for the panel.
"We strive to put an environment together where new guys can come in, feel comfortable and play their natural game and get results," Vettori said.
"With so many changes in personnel, it's not the easiest thing to do, come into a game and perform like they have at domestic level."
Vettori described Guptill's innings as "one of the best I've seen in a long time".
Guptill's scoring rate was impressive from the start, he didn't need to panic to lift the rate but kept his foot down in a controlled fashion.
Coach Andy Moles has seen Guptill batting for Auckland in the last couple of seasons, and worked with him on the Emerging Players tour last season.
"He's worked really hard at his game," Moles said.
"He can score off the front and back foot, is capable of batting long periods of time, can absorb pressure and showed he can work it around. He ticked a lot of boxes."
* ODI hundreds on debut
148: Desmond Haynes, West Indies v Australia, Antigua, 1978
122*: Martin Guptill, New Zealand v West Indies, Auckland, 2009
115*: Andy Flower, Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka, New Plymouth, 1992
103: Dennis Amiss, England v Australia, Manchester, 1972
102*: Saleem Elahi, Pakistan v Sri Lanka, Gujranwala, 1995
