[2] Papps made his first-class debut in the 1998–99 season for his local provincial club Canterbury Wizards, for which he would go on to make 6,663 runs, second most for an individual player for one province.
[5] Papps also became the oldest New Zealand batsman to score a triple century in first-class cricket.
[8] After a successful career in the junior teams, Papps was selected for the one-day series against South Africa in 2003–04 to solve New Zealand's long-running search for a capable opening batsman to partner Stephen Fleming.
During an ODI against Australia in Auckland in early 2005, he was hit in the head twice by Brett Lee's bouncers.
A subsequent scan ruled out brain injury but he never made another ODI appearance after the incident.