LONDON, April 3: Middlesex cricket county has hired Australian Ashley Noffke as a stopgap replacement for Pakistan’s Abdul Razzaq who will be on national duty for the better half of the forthcoming English season.

Noffke toured England last summer as a replacement for the injured Nathan Bracken.

Middlesex is one of the few countries fully behind the proposal to allow two overseas players to be signed by each county when the matter is discussed by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Pakistan, after the rescheduled home series against New Zealand that concludes May 12, will go to Australia in June for three one-dayers before taking on Sri Lanka and South Africa in the Moroccan city of Tangiers in August.

Pakistan will also hold a triangular one-day series involving New Zealand and Australia from Aug 27 to Sept 7. The ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka starts Sept 12.

Razzaq will be required by Pakistan in all the events except the three one-dayers against Australia.

A Middlesex spokesman said: “When we signed Razzaq we thought it was a real coup because Pakistan had nothing arranged at the time. Then, all of a sudden, we heard that he would not be arriving until May 12.

“But we have got him from then until the middle of August, because we understand from the Pakistan Cricket Board that he will not be required to go to Australia in June. We don’t know why that is, but we’re more than happy to go along with it.”