Guptill encouraged to play with freedom

New Zealand

Martin Guptill has been urged by New Zealand's batting coach, Craig McMillan, to play with the freedom that he does in ODI cricket if he wants to be successful at Test level.

The 29 year-old Guptill has struggled so far in the first two Tests against Australia, only scoring 64 runs in four innings, as the Kiwis find themselves one-nil down in the series with one match left.

An opening batsman in 50-over cricket and in the longest format of the game, Guptill's performances in the whites for the Black Caps has not quite reached the heights that he has in the colour-clothing.

The right-hander averages 41.16 in ODIs with nine centuries in 119 games compared to 29.12, including only two hundreds, in the longest format of the game.

McMillan feels Guptill is a quality batsman on the international circuit and has encouraged him play in a similar manner to what he does in the limited-overs games.

The Kiwi batting coach said: "I don't think he's too far away. I think one of the important things I talk to 'Gupp' about is encouraging him to play similar to his one-day game.

"There's not a lot of change with the way he should play. He's still working through it.

"He's a quality player at the international level and I don't think he's far off producing some of the innings we know he can produce at the top of the order."

The third and final Test between Australia and New Zealand starts on 27 November at the Adelaide Oval.

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