Now this game is more like it!
Also, I was having a look at Statsguru today after having a conversation at work about Guptill, and man he has an impressive record in ODIs - so much so that I'm surprised he isn't rated more highly generally. he's got a better average than a string of guys (Ponting, Lara, both Waughs, Sehwag, Martin Crowe, Chanderpaul... And a bunch more) - in fact, of guys who have played at least 100 ODIs only 14 have better averages and only one of those is a kiwi (Taylor). Plus his strike rate is around 85, way better than a lot of those guys around him. And of course he has the second highest ODI score ever too.
I guess his struggles in tests have kind of masked how good his ODI record really is.
I'm generally a Guptill fan, I think his perception issue is based on the fact he is either very very hot or very very cold. You don't tend to get much middle ground. He gets into runs of form and makes them count, he's in one now, the one he had in England a couple of seasons ago. But he equally has some pretty disastrous slumps, the one before the WC being the obvious.
I think he also suffers in the same way that (in a silly way) Taylor suffers. They both belong to the same generation as KW. If KW didn't exist, we would all be going nutty about Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill given the numbers they are racking up. But because KW exists, and his numbers are absolutely stupid, they suffer in comparison.
They all suffer from being peers with Trent Boult I reckon! They're just batsmen!