Middlesex lose McCullum to back surgery

Brendon McCullum, the former New Zealand captain, is to undergo surgery on a back injury that will rule him out of Middlesex's NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final against Northamptonshire on Tuesday.

McCullum featured in six games for Middlesex during the Blast group stage, before leaving to participate in the Caribbean Premier League. He continued to battle a long-standing back problem while playing for Trinbago Knight Riders and, after they were eliminated at the semi-final stage, he has opted to have an operation.

Angus Fraser, Middlesex's director of cricket, was understanding of McCullum's injury situation, which he had been managing with injections and painkillers. As well helping Middlesex qualify from the T20 group stage for the first time since 2008, contributing 132 runs from five innings at a strike rate of 148.31, McCullum led the club's averages in the Royal London Cup, in which they narrowly missed out on the last eight.

His absence will be a blow to their chances of beating Northants, the 2013 champions, at Wantage Road, with Eoin Morgan also suffering from a chipped finger bone. Morgan is unavailable for the Blast quarter-final but Middlesex hope he could be fit to play on Finals Day, on August 20, should they make it through.

Middlesex's other T20 signing, New Zealand fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan, suffered a pelvic stress fracture playing for the club in June, while Adam Voges - captain of the side in Championship cricket - is in Sri Lanka as part of Australia's Test tour.

"I have been in regular contact with Brendon whilst he was at the Caribbean Premier League and was aware that he was struggling with his back," Fraser said.

"The short nature of a T20 means there is always the temptation to play someone when they have an injury but Brendon felt he could not do himself justice and did not want to risk letting the team down in such an important game. He has been having regular injections and dosing up on painkillers for some time just to get by, which is not particularly good for you.

"As a club we have not had a lot of luck with injuries in the past couple of weeks. Seven 1st XI players have been forced to miss cricket or play in discomfort for one reason or another. But we will travel to Northampton on Tuesday with an excited and extremely capable squad. These are the sort of games we wanted to be involved in when we discussed our goals at the start of the season and we will give it everything we have got."