Smith monitoring White’s international situation

The Victorian batsman, who played an integral part in the Steelbacks’ Twenty20 success last year, was recently recalled to the Australian side and starred in their 3-0 series victory over England.

A return to the County Ground was a non-starter prior to White’s elevation due to him falling well short of the criteria needed to obtain a work permit, but he is now three international appearances - in the white ball formats - from meeting the necessary standard.

And Smith admitted that the club would be foolish not to pay attention to the situation.

He said: “We’re looking at it very carefully and we would be a bit silly if we didn’t.

“It wasn’t an option at all before he got called up but now he’s involved, and I fully expect him to go to the World Twenty20 in March, it might be possible to try and get him back.

“If he does qualify for a work permit, and that’s still a big if, then our challenge would be to try and secure the funding to make such a move possible.”

For more on the story see this week’s paper.