New Zealand sweat on McCullum injury

Nottingham, England:

Injury-plagued New Zealand are sweating on the fitness of big-hitting Brendon McCullum ahead of their must-win World Twenty20 Super Eights clash with unbeaten Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

McCullum has torn ligaments in the little finger on his left hand, an injury suffered when he collided with teammate Neil Broom, off the last ball of the match New Zealand lost to Pakistan at The Oval on Saturday.

"Brendon has suffered a broken little finger and torn ligament," said captain Daniel Vettori.

"He's going to have an injection and we're going to see how he goes."

Vettori himself has been nursing a shoulder injury which kept him out of all New Zealand's matches until they took on Pakistan.

He should be fit again to face Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge, where the winners will almost certainly progress to a semi-final at their opponents' expense.

Ross Taylor is not so certain to recover from his hamstring tear in time, however, and McCullum's setback is the latest in a catalogue of mishaps for the Kiwis.

"It's another injury that we desperately didn't need," Vettori confirmed.

"But we're still hoping he can play and we're hoping Ross Taylor will be fit as well."