Martin Guptill makes his Worcestershire debut in tomorrow’s home Specsavers County Championship clash against Lancashire with Head Coach Kevin Sharp excited by the arrival of the prolific New Zealand batsman.
Guptill flew in on Sunday and is due to have his first net session today ahead of being available for two Championship matches and then the opening eight games in the Vitality Blast.
He will be part of a Worcestershire side looking to bounce back from Sunday’s Royal London One-Day Cup semi-final setback against Kent and also to get their Championship campaign up and running after a challenging start to the season.
Sharp said: “It’s an exciting prospect Martin coming in. He is a world class player and we will look forward to see him playing on Wednesday.
“He has a tremendous record and that’s why we signed him.
“Martin is such a destructive player in white ball cricket but he also has a good record in red ball cricket.”
Guptil, who played T20 cricket for Lancashire in 2016, is Worcestershire’s third quality overseas signing of the summer after Australian duo Travis Head and Callum Ferguson.
Ferguson said: “I’ve played a little bit against him and he is a fantastic cricketer. No doubt he will have an impact.
“He is another welcome addition, brings a lot of class to the side and no doubt our players will be able to learn off him as well.”
Sharp believes Worcestershire will take confidence from their form in the One-Day Cup when they return to Championship action.
He said: “We’ve got some work to do in the Championship to get back into a position where we can stay in the Division.
“We’ve yet to win a game and we need to win a couple of those.
“I know it was a tough first few weeks Championship wise. But we’ve been in a semi-final, there are only four teams and there are 14 who don’t make it.
“We will go into it (the Championship) with probably a bit more confidence that we did the last Championship match or two.”
