The majority of kudos behind New Zealand's opening Chappell-Hadlee trophy one-day international victory can be attributed to Martin Guptill's bat.
The bowling and fielding performance was lethal but, with 307 runs in their innings bank, Guptill's 90 off 76 balls drove in the piles to build the win. His lack of batting inhibitions are inspiring teammates to press on with constructing an era. Guptill's previous best against Australia was 64 not out, set seven years ago in a washout at Brisbane.
Guptill hit eight fours and five sixes, but one stood out - a 113m tonk from the opening delivery of the fourth over off Kane Richardson. Rather than take out his customary seven iron, this was akin to a full-blooded wedge, reaching upwards of 40m to land on the ASB stand roof. Such was the clean connection, it wouldn't have surprised if registered on the Auckland International Airport radar. Richardson even forced a wry smile.
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Guptill's stroke was a metaphor for the dominance exerted across the match as New Zealand stamped their authority on the series.
The opener's performance extended an extraordinary Eden Park ODI record, which includes an average of 67.40 and strike rate of 88 from 13 innings.
Likewise, he improved boosting his average against Australia from 21.78 to 26.33 in 16 innings. Until yesterday, that had been the lowest of his ODI averages against test-playing countries.
Guptill recently paid tribute to continued mentoring from cancer-suffering New Zealand great Martin Crowe, which he said had helped extend his run of limited overs form.
"I'm always in touch with him," Guptill said. "I had a couple of days at home recently, so went and saw him. I had a good chat to him. He's still going, still fighting. He always has a few tricks up his sleeve for me."
Last year Guptill scored the most ODI runs of any cricketer - 1489 at 55.14 and a strike rate of 97 from 32 innings. This year, in five matches, he has scored 312 runs at 62.40 and a strike rate of 105.