Gareth Hopkins was called up for New Zealand's tour of England in 2004 as wicketkeeping cover for Brendon McCullum and made five ODI appearances.

Four years later it was a back injury to McCullum that handed Hopkins his Test debut at Trent Bridge. In the intervening years he returned to the sidelines until 2007, when he was awarded a central contract on the strength of a fine domestic season of 514 first-class runs at 85.66.

A former national youth team player, he switched from Northern Districts to Canterbury and then to Otago, where he made the keeping position his own. Uncompromising batting is another string to his bow and it helped him get picked in the ICC World Twenty20 squad, although he did not play a match in the tournament.