New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming is set to make his debut for Yorkshire in their opening Twenty20 Cup match against Derbyshire at Headingley on Saturday.
Fleming is due to arrive in England tomorrow and fly onto Leeds-Bradford airport before being taken to Headingley where he will be introduced to players and officials.
Director of cricket, Geoff Cope, who has been working flat out this week to complete the paperwork for Fleming's arrival, said: "We have got the work permit sorted out which means that he can now apply for a visa.
"I have e-mailed the New Zealand Board to get their clearance in writing for him to join us and then his registration will go to Lord's.
"All this will take a couple of days to finalise and if everything goes according to plan then Fleming should make it in time to be included in our Twenty20 team."
Having suffered a general slump in form in recent weeks, Yorkshire are taking the Twenty20 Cup competition seriously.
They are to hold a full scale dress rehearsal at Headingley tomorrow, complete with umpires and scorers, and the game will begin at 10.30am - the same time that they will get to grips with Derbyshire.
"We have chosen the two teams from our playing staff and the squad of 13 for Saturday will be selected immediately after the trial game has taken place," said head coach Kevin Sharp.
Anthony McGrath, Michael Vaughan and Darren Gough are all unavailable because they will have joined up with the England one-day squad by the weekend.
Over 2,000 schoolchildren from around the county have already taken up Yorkshire's offer of free admission to the game and ticket prices for adults have been slashed from £10 to £2.
* Ian Harvey led Gloucestershire into the semi-finals of the C&G Trophy with a five-wicket haul at Edgbaston.
Warwickshire's top and lower orders were undermined by the variation in pace employed by the Australian all-rounder, who finished with five for 23, including three for one in nine balls as the innings finished prematurely.
Their 204 all out was a below-par score on a track which allowed batsmen to prosper once in and despite wickets falling sporadically, Gloucestershire got home comfortably with nine overs to spare.
Opener Phil Weston, who was not used at all by former county Worcestershire in the one-day game last season, saw the visitors to their target with an unbeaten 88.
He lost Craig Spearman, Harvey and Jonty Rhodes - the latter two to the spin of Ashley Giles - in the first half of the reply but reached his landmark from his 65th ball, having struck seven fours.
Particularly strong through the covers, the tall Weston showed the virtue of patience, punishing anything erring in width.
But the most telling contribution to their last-four place was that of Harvey.
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