Cricket: Otago looking to sign an overseas player after all

Otago has changed its mind and will look at employing the services of an overseas player after all.

Following the disappointment of just two Otago players being offered a national contract, Otago Cricket Association chief executive Ross Dykes told the Otago Daily Times the association might have to can the idea of signing an overseas player this summer.

Money earmarked for the overseas professional might be better spent retaining local talent, he explained.

But with a week's worth of dust having settled, Dykes has reconsidered.

"We are intending to [look for an overseas player]," he said.

"It is certainly only in the planning stages. We feel we need to wait until the new master agreement is sorted.

I'm not expecting it to be restrictive about what we can and can't do.

"But we are a little bit in limbo at the moment, but Mike [Hesson, Otago coach] is certainly looking at what players are available ... without casting anything in stone."

Signing an overseas player has become easier in recent years with the lure of the Champions League helping entice quality players to New Zealand.

England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas played for Otago in the twenty/20 and one-day competition in 2008-09, and last summer Pakistan bowler Yasir Arafat brought his skills to the South.

Otago will probably look for a similar type of player - someone who can bowl at the death and bat in the middle order.

Before Hesson can refine his search, though, he has to decide to whom he should offer the 12 provincial contracts.

His task has been complicated with Neil Broom and Ian Butler coming off their New Zealand contracts.

Nathan McCullum joins younger brother Brendon as the only Otago nationally-contracted players, leaving the Volts with one spot fewer to allocate this summer.

Somehow Hesson will have to make room for the likes of all-rounder Sam Wells, who had a breakthrough season, and pace bowler Anthony Bullick, who was Otago's leading one-day wicket-taker and improved with every match.

That will put pressure on the likes of Otago quicks James McMillan and Mathew Harvie, while top-order batsman Leighton Morgan may also have to make room.

"It is going to be more difficult given we did not get the national contracts we hoped we might get," Dykes said of the contracting process.

"But we just have to make the best of it."

Dykes said it was inevitable some players would shop around looking for the best deal.

But he was not expecting "dramatic changes" to the squad.

Greg Todd was rumoured to be considering a move to Wellington.

The left-hander is a key member of the first-class side but played a limited part in the one-day campaign and did not feature in the twenty/20 tournament.