Cricket: Long wait over for hurried Hopkins (+photos)

Gareth Hopkins was a late inclusion after Brendon McCullum's back problem flared up. Photo / AP

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NOTTINGHAM - After a 10-year wait, Gareth Hopkins had just 75 minutes to prepare for his coveted test cricket debut here today.

The Lower Hutt-born gloveman, 31, missed out on the official cap presentation from New Zealand legend Sir Richard Hadlee the previous night, because he wasn't even in the team.

That all changed in a flurry of activity at Trent Bridge when Hopkins got shoulder-tapped by coach John Bracewell, telling him Brendon McCullum wasn't fit to keep wicket due to his sore back - despite being given the all-clear yesterday.

"I found out just before warmups, Brendon did a bit of a test but unfortunately for him it came up badly," said Hopkins, whose cap was finally presented by captain Daniel Vettori just before the start.

"I was always preparing as if I was playing the last couple of days, depending on how Brendon's back turned out, so I was ready to play."

Hopkins' stroke of luck was Peter Fulton's misfortune, after the batsman was confirmed in the side on match eve at James Marshall's expense.

With McCullum shifting to No.3, Bracewell had to take Fulton aside before warmups to break the news all players dread, barely 16 hours after Hadlee handed over his cap.

Hopkins made his first-class debut in the 1997-98 season and quickly made the New Zealand A side, but struck Adam Parore, Robbie Hart and McCullum as imposing obstacles to test selection.

He's played eight one-day internationals, the first of them on the England tour here four years ago when McCullum returned home for the birth of his child.

Today was Hopkins' 102nd first-class match, a career which includes 282 dismissals and seven centuries in stints for Northern Districts, Otago and Canterbury.

"For the last 10 years I always believed I could (play test cricket). Being No.2 to Brendon for a few years, you're always saying I'm only one injury away, so that was motivation for me to keep going."

There was early hope when Chris Martin snuck the first delivery past Andrew Strauss' edge, but Hopkins had to wait for the 83rd over to snare his first test catch, Kevin Pietersen for 115 off Iain O'Brien.

"I was getting a bit worried towards the end of the day, going the whole day without a catch. Fortunately O'Brien got a couple of nicks I was happy to take them."

- NZPA