Dan Christian will represent the Trinbago Knight Riders for the remainder of the CPL

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

The Trinbago Knight Riders have brought in Australia all-rounder Dan Christian as a replacement for opener Brendon McCullum, who was recently ruled out for the remainder of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

McCullum’s campaign came to an end last Saturday when he was struck on the arm by Barbados Tridents left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell.

Even though McCullum did continue batting for a few more balls, he was ultimately forced to retire hurt and later revealed that he had sustained a broken arm.

McCullum played a pivotal role through the group stage of the tournament as he scored 335 runs in 10 matches at an average of 55.83.

Christian, meanwhile, led Nottinghamshire to victory in the Natwest T20 Blast last week. In the 16 games he played, the 34-year-old accumulated 356 runs at an average of 35.60 and took 11 wickets at an average of 23.54.

Nottinghamshire first took down Hampshire by 23 runs in the semi-final, where Christian made a 17-ball 24. They then defeated Warwickshire by 22 runs in the final, where the Camperdown native clubbed eight boundaries and two sixes during his seven-ball 24.

“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 head coach Simon Katich said. “We hope that he can make it two trophies in two weeks with us in Trinidad.”

The Knight Riders were the first team to qualify for the CPL knockouts and ended up finishing at the top of the points table at the conclusion of the group stage as they won eight out of their 10 games.

The Knight Riders will take on the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the first qualifier. Should they win, they will book their spot in the final, but if they lose, they will play the winner of the eliminator, which will be between the Guyana Amazon Warriors and Jamaica Tallawahs, in the second qualifier.