Adam Voges could make a one-off appearance for Middlesex Panthers in tonight’s NatWest T20 Blast fixture against Glamorgan at Old Deer Park in Richmond.
The Panthers have agreed to accommodate the 34-year-old Australian, the club’s stand-in overseas player in 2013 following fellow Australian Chris Rogers’ international call-up, before he heads to the West Indies for the Caribbean Premier League.
Ex-Nottinghamshire player Voges also played in Middlesex’s second XI clash versus another former club Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl this week.
Commenting on Voges’ week-long stint and a possible return to Lord’s in the future, Middlesex managing director of cricket Angus Fraser told the club’s official website: “We are more than happy to accommodate Adam for a week as he makes his way to the CPL.
“There is not an abundance of excellent, high-quality overseas players out there and we are keen to keep in contact with Adam.
“Last season Adam filled the void left by Chris Rogers superbly and is the sort of character we want at the club. As we sit here now we do not know of Chris’ availability next summer; hopefully he will be playing for Australia in the Ashes.
“Adam is someone we would seriously consider as an alternative if Chris is unavailable.”
Ryan Higgins, fresh from hitting a seagull against Sussex Sharks last Friday, keeps his place in a squad that is lacking the services of Rogers, Steven Finn, Sam Robson, Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones.
The Panthers have won just one of their eight matches in the South Group and face a Glamorgan side that can leapfrog the Sharks into fourth place with an away win.
The Welsh county are without West Indian Darren Sammy, who has returned to his homeland, and the injured Graham Wagg.
Murray Goodwin’s century for the club’s second XI this week has helped him win a recall to a 13-member party that also includes Will Bragg and Ruaidhri Smith.
In the North Group,Birmingham Bears can move into fourth position with victory over defending champions Northants Steelbacks at Wantage Road.
Jonathan Trott played in Warwickshire’s LV= County Championship triumph over Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston and sits out along with Keith Barker, but Oliver Hannon-Dalby is available to Bears director of cricket Dougie Brown.
Good morning from the County Ground where the Steelbacks face @CricketingBears tonight in the @NatWestT20Blast. pic.twitter.com/VHCEdUASAO
— Northants Cricket (@NorthantsCCC) July 3, 2014
Brown is wary of the threat posed by the third-bottom Steelbacks, who are four points adrift of Yorkshire Vikings with this their game in hand, telling ecb.co.uk:“They’re a really dangerous Twenty20 side.
“You only have to look at the way they played their Twenty20 cricket last year – they are the defending champions.
“They’ve maybe started a bit slowly in the Twenty20 competition this year but they’re still there and there abouts and we know how dangerous they can be.
“They’ve got a number of power batters and we’re going to have to be at the top of our game if we’re going to guard against them getting off to a start.
“They’ve also got some really good death bowlers as well so they’ve got a very strong side.
“We’ve got to be very much on our toes. We’ve got to give our A-game tonight. We’ve got to be smart with our plans because we know, if we get our plans wrong as we saw last week against Derbyshire, they can really hurt you.”
David Sales, Rob Keogh and Olly Stone are all missing through injury for the Steelbacks, meaning fit-again skipper Kyle Coetzer, James Kettleborough and Maurice Chambers come into contention.