Sussex hope Brendon McCullum’s Twenty20 finale is not his last appearance for the county.

The New Zealand batsman plays the last of his seven games for the Sharks against Glamorgan Dragons at Hove tomorrow (7.10pm).

But Cricket Manager Mark Robinson has admitted: “We’d love to have him back.”

McCullum has scored 190 runs so far at an average of 38 with a strike rate of 147.28 and formed a formidable opening partnership with Matt Prior to help put Sussex in control of the South Group with seven wins out of eight.

Robinson said: “Brendon as been brilliant and I think he has enjoyed his time with us as well.

“Not only has he helped us make consistently good starts but he has been great for the other players as well.

“One of the first he things he said to Matt was that he couldn’t believe he wasn’t in the England t20 squad and that was great for Matt to hear from someone of Brendon’s experience and quality. They have really hit it off on and off the pitch.

“He has also stood up to the opposition’s best players, something Dwayne Smith and Yasir Arafat have done as well. Against Glamorgan last week he was coming down the pitch to hit Shaun Tait over extra cover when Tait, who is the quickest bowler in the world, was bowling at 92mph.

“We have always made a good connection with our overseas players going back to Mushtaq Ahmed. We would love to have Brendon back in the future. He has fitted in so easily in our dressing room and has been a great bloke to have around.”

Arafat will replace McCullum as one of Sussex’s two overseas players on Friday for the top-two showdown with Somerset in Taunton while competition to replace McCullum in the batting order is hotting up.

Murray Goodwin will revert back to opening with Prior after tomorrow but Michael Thornely and Ed Joyce staked their claim for a middle-order spot as Sussex seconds hammered Derbyshire to win the ECB’s 40 overs competition when both teams bat in two blocks of 20 overs.

Michael Thornely hammered 102, Ben Brown 93 and Joyce 53 while Monty Panesar took 4-45 as Sussex won by 139 runs at Horsham.