Australia left-arm quick Mitchell Starc has been deported from Britain, with visa problems preventing him from making his debut for English county Yorkshire.
Yorkshire, coached by former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie, is blaming Cricket Australia officials for problems with Starc's paperwork.
The 22-year-old Starc, who arrived at Heathrow Airport last weekend and was initially cleared to remain, will not now make his Yorkshire debut in their County Championship Second Division match against Gloucestershire at Bristol on Wednesday.
But the bowler himself was confident of being able to return to England in time for next week's match against Yorkshire.
"Well that's a first! Being deported from England...surely nothing else can go wrong can it?!?!," Starc wrote on his Twitter account on Tuesday.
"Visa issue. Incorrect communication from Aus. Will be straight back to UK ASAP once sorted. In time for next Yorkshireccc game.
"The Yorkshireccc have been brilliant to me...disappointed I won't get to play tomorrow but good luck to the lads!"
A Yorkshire spokesman said earlier Tuesday: "There was an error with the initial paperwork which the club are trying to sort out.
"We hope to have it completed by this afternoon. If not it is unlikely Starc will be able to play tomorrow and may have to return back to Australia."
Starc was due to begin an initial five-week deal to help offset the controversial departure of seamer Ajmal Shahzad, who joined county champions Lancashire, Yorkshire's arch cross-border rivals, on loan until the end of the season after being controversially released by Headingley officials last week.
The departure of the 26-year-old Shahzad, who has played one Test and 11 one-day internationals for England, was a shock as he had taken eight wickets in three first-class matches at an average of 26.25 for Yorkshire this season.
But Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves said Shahzad had to go after refusing to follow Gillespie's instructions.
"Jason's come in with a totally new regime and the player's still not happy so we can't keep changing the backroom and all the rest of it," he said.
"Our guys wanted a disciplined situation like England do when they're playing now and it works very well," added Graves.
"He (Shahzad) didn't see that. He wanted to have the opportunity to be his own man, bang it in when he wants to bang it in and bowl bouncers when he wants to bowl bouncers.
"The captain, the coach and everybody else didn't want that situation, especially at this time of year where we've got seaming wickets and all the rest of it - it's disciplined bowling that counts.
"We've put a lot of effort and a lot of resource into Ajmal and we thought he'd be here for the rest of his career.
"We're sad to see him go but at the end of the day, there's no point in keeping him here if he's unhappy."
AFP
Tags: cricket, sport, australia, england, united-kingdom First posted May 09, 2012 06:47:04
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