McCullum Regains Gloves, Nicol Set to Debut

Florida: 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," Greatbatch said.

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.

Mahela Jayawardene and Daniel Vettori are the complete antitheses of hitters and pitchers from baseball. If they are both at their best, who knows the Americans might just see the light.

Team news

New Zealand Between the World Twenty20 and now, New Zealand have lost Jesse Ryder to another injury, and Shane Bond for good. Gareth Hopkins has a knee injury so Brendon McCullum is likely to keep wicket, while offspinning allrounder Rob Nicol is set to make his debut.

Squad from Brendon McCullum (wk), Aaron Redmond, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Gareth Hopkins (wk), Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori (capt), Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Ian Butler, Andy McKay, Rob Nicol.

Sri Lanka should retain their combination from the World Twenty20 before Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya take a break.

Squad from Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Chamara Kapugedera, Sanath Jayasuriya, Suraj Randiv, Thilan Thushara, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Thissara Perera, Chanaka Welegedara.

Pitch and condtions
The pitch and conditions are a complete unknown. "There's a New Zealand groundsman here looking after it and preparing it," said Ross Taylor. "To be honest, we don't really know what to expect." Isolated thunderstorms are also forecast for the weekend.

Stats and trivia

• Brendon McCullum, at 1081, is the highest run-getter in T20Is. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, with 743 and 711 runs, are numbers four and five on the list.
• New Zealand have won four out of their seven games against Sri Lanka, including their latest victory in the World Twenty20.

Match facts
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Start time 15:30 local (1930 GMT)