MARTIN Guptill makes his Worcestershire debut in Wednesday’s Specsavers County Championship Division One home clash against Lancashire (11am) with head coach Kevin Sharp excited by his arrival.

The prolific New Zealand batsman flew in on Sunday and is due to have his first net session today ahead of being available for two Championship matches and then the opening eight Vitality Blast games.

He will be part of a Worcestershire side looking to bounce back from Sunday’s Royal London One-Day Cup semi-final setback against Kent and also to get their Championship campaign up and running after a challenging start to the season.

Sharp said: “It’s an exciting prospect to have Martin coming in. He is a world-class player and we will look forward to see him playing on Wednesday.

“He has a tremendous record and that’s why we signed him.

“Martin is such a destructive player in white-ball cricket but he also has a good record in red-ball cricket.”

Guptill, who played T20 cricket for Lancashire in 2016, is Worcestershire’s third overseas signing of the summer after Australian duo Travis Head and Callum Ferguson.

Ferguson said: “I’ve played a bit against him and he is a fantastic cricketer. No doubt he will have an impact.

“He is another welcome addition, brings a lot of class to the side and no doubt our players will be able to learn off him as well.”

Sharp believes Worcestershire will take confidence from their form in the one-day cup when they return to Championship action where they are 26 points behind Hampshire at the bottom of the table with a game in hand.

He said: “We’ve got some work to do in the Championship to get back into a position where we can stay in the division.

“We’ve yet to win a game and need to win a couple of those.

“I know it was a tough first few weeks Championship-wise. But we’ve been in a semi-final, there are only four teams and there are 14 who don’t make it.

“We will go into it with probably a bit more confidence than we did the last Championship match or two.”