Guptill back in blue for Stags showdown

Media Release

Tuesday 24 January 2017
Guptill back in blue for Stags showdown

Martin Guptill returns to the Auckland Aces side tomorrow as they prepare for their fourth round Ford Trophy match against the Central Stags at Eden Park.

Guptill rejoins the side before he heads off on international duty once more while Mark Chapman is back in the mix returning from a calf injury.

“It’s handy having Martin Guptill making an appearance, you don’t see your internationals very often so it’s nice to have him back for this game, it’s a fresh deck, a good wicket, hopefully a lot of runs,” says Aces coach Mark O’Donnell.

Although the Aces are yet to lose a game in the Ford Trophy, coach O’Donnell knows the performances have been far from perfect.

“We still have a bit to do because we’ve been bowled out but to get a couple of things wrong and win games is quite useful, they were good fighting wins against both Otago and ND,” he says.

While Auckland have had their own injury concerns, he notes that all domestic sides are battling a rising injury toll, especially with bowlers.

“It’s interesting coming back into 50 over cricket coming from T20’s there were injuries in all three games, whether that’s the extra spike in bowling volumes I don’t know,” O’Donnell says.

With Guptill and Chapman back in the XII for this match, Shawn Hicks and Danru Ferns drop out and while the Stags have a 1-2 record so far in the Ford Trophy, O’Donnell is well aware of their ability.

“They have some dangerous players so we need to put them under pressure and see what happens,” he says.

The Auckland Aces take on the Central Stags at Eden Park Outer Oval tomorrow, first ball 11:00am.

Auckland Aces

Michael Barry

Mark Chapman

Lockie Ferguson

Donovan Grobbelaar

Martin Guptill

Ben Horne

Tarun Nethula

Rob Nicol (c)

Robbie O’Donnell

Glenn Phillips

Raja Sandhu

Sean Solia

ends

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