Who would have predicted that: Unpredictability serves Guptill well as he races to 237* in 2015 World Cup quarter-final

In our feature series - Who would have predicted that? – we are looking back at matches where there were big upsets or extraordinary individual performances that turned matches on their head.

Martin Guptill was already the man with the highest New Zealand ODI score after his unbeaten 189 against England at Southampton in 2013. But, his name was not taken in the same breath as Brendon McCullum or Daniel Vettori.

Guptill changed that in the 2015 World Cup quarter final against West Indies at Wellington with an unbeaten 237 which remains the second-highest individual score by any batsman in an ODI.

Match Summary

New Zealand 393/6 (50 overs) - Martin Guptill 237* (163), Ross Taylor 42 (61); Jerome Taylor 3/71 (7), Andre Russell2/96 (10)

West Indies 250 (30.3 overs) - Chris Gayle 61 (33), Jason Holder 42 (26); Trent Boult 4/44 (10), Daniel Vettori 2/58 (6.3)

Result - New Zealand won by 143 runs

The Kiwi fans had been banking on Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor to do the needful in the big quarter final. While Guptill had not been mentioned that often because of his unpredictability, it was the same quality that saw him excel that day.

Following McCullum's early dismissal, Guptill was cautious to begin with after being dropped on 4. He brought up his half-century off 64 deliveries before the century off 111 balls was brought up in the 35th over.

This was the signal to press on. He raced from 100 to 150 in 23 deliveries and the gap from 150 to 200 was travelled in a matter of just 18 balls. The mammoth innings, which included 24 fours and 11 sixes, also had two maximums in excess of 100 metres.

Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Brendon McCullum, 4.2 ov), 2-89 (Kane Williamson, 15.6 ov), 3-232 (Ross Taylor, 38.3 ov), 4-278 (Corey Anderson, 43.2 ov), 5-333 (Grant Elliott, 46.3 ov), 6-365 (Luke Ronchi, 48.4 ov)

When Chris Gayle started smashing them to all parts of the park in the chase, the match became really interesting.

Gayle had just hit a double century against Zimbabwe in the same tournament. He had congratulated Guptill on his double in the centre; probably it was time for the West Indian to bring up his own.

Gayle was dismissed on 61 off 33 deliveries and with him went West Indies' hopes of making it to the semis as New Zealand won the game by 143 runs.

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Johnson Charles, 1.2 ov), 2-27 (Lendl Simmons, 5.3 ov), 3-80 (Marlon Samuels, 9.1 ov), 4-80 (Denesh Ramdin, 9.5 ov), 5-120 (Chris Gayle, 16.1 ov), 6-166 (Daren Sammy, 21.1 ov), 7-173 (Jonathan Carter, 22.3 ov), 8-201 (Andre Russell, 25.1 ov), 9-221 (Jerome Taylor, 27.6 ov), 10-250 (Jason Holder, 30.3 ov)

Teams

New Zealand - Brendon McCullum (c), Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi (wk), Daniel Vettori, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Trent Boult

West Indies - Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Jonathan Carter, Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Daren Sammy, Andre Russell, Jason Holder (c), Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn

Match Details

Match: NZ vs WI, 4th Quarter-Final, ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 

Date: Saturday, March 21, 2015 

Toss: New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat 

Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington 

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough, Bruce Oxenford 

Third Umpire: Rod Tucker 

Match Referee: Chris Broad 

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