Guptill heading for Derbyshire again

England

New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill will return to Derbyshire for the early part of the English County season, ahead of the Black Caps tour to the UK which starts late in May 2015.

Guptill, who has had two previous spells, in 2011 and 2012, with the county side, will be available for the first six County Championship games as well as three T20 matches.

It would allow the right-handed batsman to get acclimatised to conditions before New Zealand's first Test, of two, against England on 21 May.

The 28 year-old Guptill said: "I always wanted to go back to Derbyshire when the time was right. I get on great with the people and have lots of really good memories.

"Hopefully I can help my county make a quick start to the season to get them in the promotion mix again; and get the lads off to a flier in the T20 Blast."

Derbyshire elite performance director Graeme Welch said:  "Martin is a proven match-winner. He's proved it for New Zealand and he's done it a number of times for Derbyshire too, across all three forms of the game. We hope he can repeat the form of his last spell with the Club.

"He's probably an even better player now than the one that left when you look at what he did to England in 2013. He'll fit well into our dressing room and into the culture we're building."

Guptill has played 31 Tests, 96 ODIs and 48 T20 Internationals for the Black Caps and is also part of their World Cup squad, which they will be co-hosting with Australia starting in mid- February.

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