Black Caps opener Martin Guptill has been ruled out of the first three matches of South Africa's tour of New Zealand with a hamstring injury.
The injury means Auckland wicketkeeper-batsman Glenn Phillips is in line for an international debut against South Africa in the one-off Twenty20 international in Auckland on Friday.
Guptill suffered the injury at training this week.
It is a right hamstring strain and unrelated to the left hamstring issue which forced him to miss most of the summer's ODI and T20 series against Bangladesh and the first ODI against Australia.
His place in the T20 squad is taken by the hard-hitting Phillips while Dean Brownlie is recalled for the first two ODIs in Hamilton and Christchurch.
Black Caps selector Gavin Larsen said the 20-year-old Phillips earned selection on the weight of his domestic form.
Batting as an opener, he was the leading run-scorer in the domestic T20 and maintained a high strike rate.
"Glenn proved an extremely exciting player," Larsen said.
"He bats with power; has shown he can clear the rope, and gets a deserved opportunity to showcase his skills on the international stage."
Larsen said Phillips would be selected as a specialist batsman only, with Luke Ronchi confirmed as wicketkeeper.
The experienced Brownlie impressed when replacing Guptill in the series-deciding third ODI against Australia in Hamilton, scoring 63.
