Quinton de Kock lined up to join Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire are hoping to sign South African batsman Quinton de Kock as an overseas player for the final few weeks of the county season.

De Kock is understood to be a target of the club and could join them after South Africa's tour to Sri Lanka which finishes in mid-August. He is, however, understood to be one of two targets and nothing is finalised just yet.

New Zealand's Ross Taylor has been at Trent Bridge for the first half of the season but departs shortly. The club have signed Dan Christian, from Australia, and Ish Sodhi, from New Zealand, in their T20 side. De Kock is expected to be available for the final six Championship matches of the campaign.

Nottinghamshire are currently second of Division One. They may, however, face a struggle to sustain an excellent start to the season due to international call-ups and injuries. They have also lost several top-order batsmen - not least James Taylor, Alex Hales, Brendan Taylor, Greg Smith and Michael Lumb - over the last couple of years.

In the longer term, they are expected to compete for several out-of-contract county players including Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke and Zak Chappell, who has now had approaches from eight counties.

Meanwhile Somerset are understood to be pursuing Pakistan's Azhar Ali as an overseas player while, in domestic transfer news, Middlesex are emerging as favourites to sign Somerset all-rounder Lewis Gregory.

Liam Plunkett, who is unsettled at Yorkshire, is also understood to have had interest from several counties while Jordan Clark is far from certain to leave Lancashire but seems to be wanted by other counties, including Warwickshire. Leicestershire's Ben Raine is also coveted by several counties.