Cricket: Hopkins lets bat and gloves do talking

Gareth Hopkins wants to go in and finish the job when playing at No 7. Photo / Christine Cornege

The odd furrowed brow greeted the naming of Gareth Hopkins in the New Zealand Twenty20 squad to play Australia.

He answered those who wondered why a second wicketkeeper was needed - given that Brendon McCullum was already there - with a couple of snazzy innings, 21 off 13 balls, then an influential 36 off only 17 when New Zealand won the thriller at Christchurch.

When McCullum's back was playing up after the opening Chappell Hadlee ODI, Hopkins was whistled up to Auckland late last week and he has responded impressively, with 35 off 39 balls and 45 from 51 in the past two games, putting some substance into inadequate New Zealand innings.

But the Auckland captain has a mixed view of his contribution.

"At No 7 the goal is to finish the job and I haven't been doing that," he said yesterday. "So although I'm happy with getting starts we need to kick on."

Hopkins might have caught the Australians off guard, as they've seen little of him before now.

"After seeing the last couple of games they'll have some better plans, so it's up to me to tweak it or look at doing it a lot better."

Hopkins, at his fourth first-class province after previous stops at Northern Districts, Canterbury and Otago, had good HRV Cup and one-day campaigns leading Auckland to the finals in both domestic competitions.

His ability to improvise has served him well against Australia. He's been around the national side for a while now. His only test was at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in 2008, but he made his ODI debut in 2004.

"Being part of the Twenty20s has helped," he said.

"It's lifted the intensity that you need at international level and I've felt comfortable with that.

"I hadn't really performed at international level so that's always at the back of your mind.

"Domestically I've been trying to get up higher in the order and put some pressure on my batting, and I think that's helped."

And at 33, with 115 first-class games behind him - 10 hundreds and an average of 33.94 - plus 16 ODIs, Hopkins is unlikely to get fazed by much.

The inventive streak, plus the hustling style he's shown against Australia, has marked him as a player of spirit and skill.

A sharp piece of fielding behind the stumps to run out Shane Watson in Hamilton on Tuesday night helped make up for a couple of slipups earlier in the tour.

Right now, a trip to the Caribbean for the world Twenty20 championships in May looks a certainty.