McCullum regains gloves, Nicol to make Twenty20 debut against Lanka in US

Florida, May 22(ANI): New Zealand player Brendon McCullum will be back behind the stumps for the first Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka in Florida following a knee injury to wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins.

McCullum has been focusing on his batting of late, and has said that he would take time to decide whether to become a specialist batsman in the coming months.

"Gareth Hopkins has got a bit of a niggle with his knee so he may not play tomorrow, so that means Brendon McCullum will keep wicket for us. Other than that we're pretty fit," Stuff.co.nz quoted Mark Greatbatch, New Zealand coach, as saying.

Meanwhile, all-rounder Rob Nicol will make his debut for New Zealand despite not getting the opportunity to play a single game in the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.

"It's an opportunity for us to play again after the disappointment of the Twenty20 World Cup where we didn't play well enough. We're going to give a couple of other guys an opportunity; Rob Nicol and Aaron Redmond are going to be playing," Greatbatch said.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka will become the first to play an officially sanctioned full international in the United States when they contest back-to-back matches at the Central Broward Regional Park in Florida. (ANI)