Gareth James Hopkins (born 24 November 1976) is a New Zealand former international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. A

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

, he played

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One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) and

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

cricket for the

New Zealand national cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Nicknamed the Black Caps (), they played their first Test cricket, Test in 1930 against England cricket team, England in Christchurch, becoming the f ...

between 2004 and 2010.Gareth Hopkins

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. Retrieved 2023-12-23. Hopkins was born at

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

in the

Wellington Region Greater Wellington, also known as the Wellington Region (Māori language, Māori: ''Te Upoko o te Ika''), is the southernmost regions of New Zealand, region of the North Island of New Zealand. The local government region covers an area of , and ...

in 1976 and was educated at Taupo College.McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 70. Cardiff:

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.
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 2023-06-05.) He played age-group cricket for Northern Districts and played for the national under-19 side before making his senior representative debut for Northern Districts against

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

during the 1995–96 season.Gareth Hopkins
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2023-12-23.

Cricket career

who was described as a "staunch" batsmanGareth Hopkins Profile
CricketArchive, 3 June 2008. Retrieved 2023-12-23. and as "uncompromising" in his approach to batting, he moved to play for

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for the 1998–99 season. After five seasons he moved to

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

for four seasons before finishing his domestic career playing for

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

between the 2007–08 and 2013–14 seasons. The side won the domestic

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

and

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

competitions during the 2010–11 season and Hopkins finished his career with over 350 top-level domestic appearances. Hopkins made his international debut in 2004, deputising for

Brendon McCullum Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a former New Zealand cricketer, and the current head coach of the England men's cricket team in all formats. Representing New Zealand, he captained the team in all formats. McCullum was renow ...

as New Zealand's wicket-keeper in five One Day Internationals during the tour of England. He spent much of his international career as McCullum's back-up, making his Test debut in 2008 following when McCullum was unable to play due to injury. Following a successful 2007–08 season he was awarded a central contract by

New Zealand Cricket New Zealand Cricket, formerly the New Zealand Cricket Council, is the governing body for professional cricket in New Zealand. Cricket is the most popular and highest profile summer sport in New Zealand. New Zealand Cricket operates the New ...

and played most of his four Test matches, 25 ODIs and 10 T20Is over the following three seasons. "Ordinary" form in 2010–11 saw him dropped from the central contracts list and he did not represent the national side after the end of 2010.

Post-cricket career

Hopkins became a financial adviser with his wife since 2014. They have moved to reside in

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Gareth 1976 births Living people New Zealand cricketers New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand Twenty20 International cricketers Auckland cricketers Northern Districts cricketers Canterbury cricketers Otago cricketers Cricketers from Lower Hutt South Island cricketers North Island cricketers Wicket-keepers