Hand injury rules McCullum out of CPL

Brendon McCullum has been ruled out of the remainder of the Caribbean Premier League because of a hand injury. McCullum was batting on 26 during Trinbago Knight Riders' chase when he was struck on the left arm by Barbados Tridents' pacer Wayne Parnell, forcing him to retire hurt. Australia allrounder Dan Christian is set for his CPL debut after being named as McCullum's replacement.

"CPL over for this year, unfortunate. Been a ride with Knight Riders brothers! Many thanks to all for your support! Luck team!" McCullum said on Twitter, sharing a picture of his x-ray.

McCullum scored 335 runs, including three half-centuries, in 10 matches this season. He led Knight Riders' charge with his 91 off 62 balls to clock up 208 in the previous match against Jamaica Tallawahs, the joint-highest score of this season's CPL.

Christian led Nottinghamshire to the NatWest Blast title last week, hitting 356 runs at a strike-rate of 153.44 to add to 11 wickets in 16 matches. Earlier this year, he was part of the Rising Pune Supergiant side that finished as the runner-up in the IPL.

"Losing an iconic figure like Brendon to injury is clearly a massive loss to the team, but in Daniel we have a proven match-winner who has just led a side to a T20 title in England," Knight Riders' coach Simon Katich said. "We hope that he can make it two trophies in two weeks with us in Trinidad."

Though Knight Riders fell 16 runs short in their chase against Tridents, they sealed their semi-final berth and were on top of the table with eight wins from 10 matches.