Nottinghamshire have left-arm seamers - Ben Lister of New Zealand and Fazalhaq Farooqi of Afghanistan - for the T20 Blast group stages this season, hoping they can emulate the success Pakistan T20 captain Shaheen Shah Afridi brought to the team last summer.
Lister, who has earned 13 limited-overs caps for his country, is not expected to be part of their World Cup squad. He will join Notts for the initial eight games of the Blast's group stages before being replaced by Farooqi.
Pending a No-Objection Certificate from the Afghanistan Cricket Board, Farooqi will make his county cricket debut following the T20 World Cup, where he will lead Afghanistan's seam attack.
Shaheen claimed 22 wickets in his 14 matches for Notts last season, including four in a single over in a loss to Birmingham Bears. However, he will miss the Blast this summer due to a scheduling conflict with the T20 World Cup, where he will lead Pakistan, prompting Notts to seek alternative options.
"Given the success Shaheen had with us last year, bringing in left-arm seam options again made sense," Peter Moores, Notts' head coach, said in a press release. "It creates a different set of challenges for batters. In Ben and Fazalhaq, we have proven wicket-takers who can make an impact on the game in crucial moments, which is what we are after.
"Ben is an exciting talent who is establishing himself on the world stage after consistent performances domestically. He's made a difference in the teams he has played for, and has the potential to do the same with us. Meanwhile, Fazalhaq is a world-class player with experience on the franchise circuit and in international cricket, with a proven ability to bowl at the death. His knowhow under pressure will be important in our group stage run-in."
Notts had finished fourth in the North Group last year and were beaten by eventual champions Somerset in the quarter-finals.
They will have a new-look Blast team this year following the departures of Samit Patel (Derbyshire) and Jake Ball (Somerset), with Steven Mullaney expected to feature predominantly for Notts Second XI after taking on a player-coach role
