Cricket: Auckland eye two foreign players

Andrew Symonds remains a prospect, if only for the last one or two rounds of the competition. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Auckland are taking a patient line in securing an overseas signing for the domestic Twenty20 cricket competition this season.

While four of the other five major associations have confirmed signings for the HRV Cup starting on January 2 - the exception being Canterbury, who cannot as they have two South African-born players on their books, wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk and batsman Johan Myburgh - Auckland have yet to nail down an international player for the 10-round competition.

They were in negotiations with England allrounder Luke Wright, but while that line of inquiry remains open, it is becoming less likely that he will get to Auckland.

Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds remains a prospect, if only for the last one or two rounds of the competition.

"It's still an option we'd like to look at," Auckland Cricket chief executive Andrew Eade said yesterday. "We haven't taken it any further than the initial contact."

Eade is relaxed about still not having an overseas player, given that the competition is still two and a half months off.

One interesting line of thought doing the rounds is that some good-quality players might be looking for a Twenty20 gig closer to the start of the competition, with an eye on qualifying themselves for another team for next year's Champions League, should Auckland win the title this season.

However Eade ruled out holding off in the hope of picking up a late bargain.

"We're not going to sit and wait. We're certainly looking to get something done as quickly as possible, but we're not panicking."

Northern Districts have signed Sri Lankan batting star Tillekaratne Dilshan; Central Districts have picked up English allrounder Graham Napier, who played for Wellington last season; Wellington have signed England batsman Owais Shah; and Otago have retained England allrounder Dmitri Mascarenhas.

Otago, New Zealand's representative in the inaugural Champions League in India, play their second and final pool game against the Bangalore Royal Challengers early today in Bangalore.