No panic as Yorkshire mull over foreign signings (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

No panic as Yorkshire mull over foreign signings

7:30pm Wednesday 9th January 2013 in Sport By Graham Hardcastle

Yorkshire will not rush into deciding on their overseas plans for 2013.

South Africa batsman David Miller is a likely Twenty20 signing after last summer’s success, while Mitchell Starc would also be welcomed back with open arms if available for any period of time. But first-team coach Jason Gillespie knows that is unlikely.

One name Gillespie has distanced the county from is Australian Twenty20 bowler Shaun Tait, a big mate of his.

A report earlier this week suggested Yorkshire were front-runners for his signature.

“We’ll probably have some conversations about the overseas path in the next month or so,” said Gillespie. “But we’re not looking that far ahead at this stage.

“I can honestly say that I haven’t spoken to Shaun about coming here. I’m really big mates with him but I haven’t had a conversation with him about coming over to play for Yorkshire.

“We’re hopeful that Dave will be back because he had such a massive impact for us.

“We’d also love to have a player of Mitchell Starc’s calibre. The reality is that we haven’t really thought about that, and the reason is he’s playing all three forms for Australia.

“We’ve recruited really well already this winter. I believe along with Andrew Hodd from Sussex, who is an excellent signing, we have two fantastic lads and fantastic bowlers in Liam Plunkett and Jack Brooks.

“When you look at it like that, do we really need to go down the overseas bowler route? You probably think we don’t.”

One batsman who has not been ruled out is former Australia star Ricky Ponting: “Don’t worry, his name came up after he made the decision to retire,” added Gillespie.