Sunil Narine pulls out of Finals Day with Surrey to focus on Major League Cricket

Surrey were "disappointed and frustrated" to learn late on Wednesday evening that Sunil Narine has ruled himself out of Vitality Blast Finals Day on Saturday, abandoning a planned 9,000-mile round trip from Dallas to Birmingham.

ESPNcricinfo revealed on Tuesday that Surrey were expecting Narine to return from his Major League Cricket (MLC) commitments with LA Knight Riders in order to play for them this weekend, before returning to Dallas immediately after Finals Day at Edgbaston.

But the club said in a statement on Thursday that they had been informed on Wednesday night about a change in Narine's plans. Narine will instead remain in the USA, leaving Surrey with only one overseas player for Saturday's showpiece in Australia's Sean Abbott.

Alec Stewart, Surrey's director of cricket, said: "We were aware when we signed Sunil for the T20 Blast that he could be unavailable for Finals Day due to his pre-signed contract with the Knight Riders in the MLC.

"However, all of the subsequent conversations with the various parties since he arrived for the group games and leading into this week were that we would have him back for Saturday, so it's disappointing and frustrating to lose a player of Sunil's quality at such late notice."

Kieron Pollard, Narine's long-time team-mate and close friend, jokingly suggested to ESPNcricinfo that Surrey - the county he represented last year, alongside Narine - should have laid on a private jet to ensure his availability.

"Maybe they should have sent some private jets for him, make him comfortable and then he might have been able to do it pretty comfortably!" Pollard said. "It's totally up to the individual how you plan out your contracts, because there are going to be tournaments that are overlapping."

ECB regulations require players to be registered with a county in the group stages of a competition in order to be available for the knockout stages, so Surrey will not be permitted an overseas replacement for Narine.

Dan Moriarty, their left-arm spinner, played his first Blast game of the season in their quarter-final victory over Lancashire and will likely retain his spot. Cam Steel, the legspinning allrounder, is the closest thing Surrey have to a like-for-like replacement for Narine, while Dan Worrall and Jordan Clark may also come into contention.

"I genuinely think it's a wonderful opportunity," Gareth Batty, Surrey's coach, told ESPNcricinfo. "We've got a great squad. The worst part of my job is telling very fine players that they're not playing. I hate it. It is the worst thing. It's another opportunity to tell someone that they are playing.

"I truly believe that we have lots of people that can play at any point across any competition and be a real success. Obviously Sunny is a wonderful player, but we'll have a wonderful player coming in."