The fractured finger of Dean Brownlie has opened the door for recent ODI debutant Andrew Ellis to join New Zealand's Twenty20 squad for a pair of internationals against Zimbabwe.
Brownlie suffered the injury in dropping a catch in the second ODI in Whangarei and as a result will miss the Twenty20 series with the Zimbabweans and also both forms of limited over cricket against South Africa later in the month.
A hand specialist confirmed he was likely to be out for a month, which puts his participation in the Test series against the Proteas, starting with the first Test in Dunedin from March 7, in jeopardy.
His place has been taken by Canterbury team-mate Ellis who has shown his worth in the limited overs arena already.
Ellis scored a mature 33 in his ODI debut, against Zimbabwe at University Oval, with a strikerate of over 100 and is also a handy seamer in the middle overs and at the death.
"We would like to give Andrew the opportunity to show us his hitting power as he has not had the chance to spend a lot of time at the crease in this series," said coach John Wright.
Those not involved in the Twenty20 squad and not in the ODI make-up, namely James Franklin along with uncapped duo Colin de Grandhomme and Ronnie Hira, have been in training with their fellow internationals in Napier in the lead-up to the third and final one-dayer.
The first Twenty20 takes place in Auckland on Saturday night, followed by the second in Hamilton 72 hours later.
New Zealand Twenty20 squad: Brendon McCullum (c), Michael Bates, Doug Bracewell, Andrew Ellis, Colin de Grandhomme, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Ronnie Hira, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Kane Williamson.