October 28, 2007	Sunday	Shawwal 15, 1428

LONDON, Oct 27: Worcestershire have offered terms to Pakistan paceman Umar Gul who they have targeted to be their major overseas player for the 2008 campaign.

The Pears are hoping Umar will be able to link up with them from early May to early August and form an exciting spearhead with another new recruit in Simon Jones and fellow England paceman Kabir Ali.

But his arrival at New Road — should the 23-year-old accept Worcestershire’s offer — will be subject to the county obtaining clearance from the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Worcestershire chief executive Mark Newton said: “We have talked to Umar’s representative in the United Kingdom and have made an offer. We will continue to talk to see what is possible.

”We would like Umar to be our overseas player for the early part of next season and his likely availability would be from early May to early August. We are just hoping it will all come to fruition and it will be an exciting time if Umar, Simon Jones, Kabir Ali and Matt Mason are all fit and available for next season.”

”Umar is one of the most exciting prospects around and in addition to Test cricket, he has also proved to be economical in Twenty20 cricket. We have to obtain permission from the PCB, and they may not want him to play county cricket, but it will be a mouth-watering prospect if all our pace bowlers are available.”—Agencies