No Northants return for Nel

Northamptonshire have confirmed that Andre Nel, the South African fast bowler, will not be returning to the club next season.

Nel, who took 58 wickets last summer to help Northants to promotion both in the County Championship and the National League, has not been granted permission by the South African board.

"The situation has changed almost hourly with conversations with South Africa, but the understanding now is that the board are not going to let him travel," Simon Schanschieff, the Northants chairman, told BBC radio Northampton. "Even if he did come to us, he's not going to be here at the beginning of the season and they might even have tried to put a restriction on the number of overs he'd be able to bowl. Frankly, given that situation, I think Andre himself felt that he couldn't honour his contract. He's desperately disappointed."

However, Kepler Wessels, the coach, confirmed that the club have already lined up a replacement to join Martin van Jaarsveld, the South African batsman, as their second overseas player, but did not reveal his identity.