More on the overseas role

News that Hampshire are chasing Simon Katich as their overseas player for 2012 is going to focus the attention of a few people around the county game.

As I've previously written, Katich, together with Marcus North, is one of only a handful of players who would appear to be available for most, if not all of the season. With the congested calendar next summer there are very few options available and I can see a few counties going for unexpected signings.

There is always the possibility that someone who drops out of international recognition will hold appeal. With many talented batsmen to choose from, there could be, for example, a high profile casualty among South Africa's batting strength for next summer's tour. Ashwell Prince, at 34, is a fine player but would appear the most vulnerable in a strong batting lineup, most of who play IPL and would not be too keen on a county stint. Colin Ingram, known on the local scene after a couple of seasons  in Derbyshire, could be another worth keeping an eye on.

Maybe New Zealand could be an option? John Wright helped us out with Martin Guptill and could do so again if there was a suitable player. Of course, Guptill himself may fancy another spell in the county game and we could do much worse, especially for the T20. As things stand though, any Kiwi would be unavailable from mid-June as they tour West Indies then India. That would rule out potential moves for the likes of James Franklin or Jesse Ryder.

Australia? Again, not too many options apart from North but there's one thing I have noticed - most of their cricket next summer is likely to be one-day. In the absence of many viable alternatives, perhaps one answer for Derbyshire is to switch the two players from this year, with Martin Guptill playing for as long as he can from April and Usman Khawaja returning for the remainder of the season. Both may well benefit from this year's experience and at this stage, unless we can pick up Marcus North, Prince or Katich, I cannot think of anyone better, or more likely to do well.

Thoughts?