Notts to lose Fleming for a month

Stephen Fleming: will be missed by Nottinghamshire while he is touring Zimbabwe © Getty Images

Nottinghamshire will be without the services of Stephen Fleming during August as he will be captaining New Zealand in Zimbabwe. However, he will be back towards the end of the summer for the conclusion of the Championship and National League.

Fleming said: "It's unfortunate that I will be away from Nottingham at a crucial stage but I have my commitments with New Zealand. The Notts players have shown their qualities in the first half of the season and I have every confidence they will maintain and improve on those standards while I am away. We are in a group of five or six teams who have a chance of the title and I sincerely hope that I can help us finish top of the pile come September."

Fleming is currently sixth in the first-class averages with 727 runs at 72.7, including four hundreds, with a top score of 238.

Mick Newell, the director of cricket, said: "We expect Stephen will be missing for five weeks, through August and early September, but he will still have an important part to play in our end of season run-in. We are looking to sign a replacement for the period he is missing and ideally he will be a high calibre batsman who can slot straight into Stephen's place in the batting order."

"We will need to give a lot of thought to the captaincy, but hopefully his influence over the side will still be felt as we aim for the Championship and fight tooth and nail to steer clear of relegation from the National League."