OVERSEAS signing Sohail Tanvir will miss at least the first two games of Worcestershire’s Friends Life t20 campaign after being kept longer than expected by Pakistan on their tour of Sri Lanka.

The left-arm quick was initially just with his country for their Twenty20 series in Sri Lanka, which ended in a 1-1 draw at the start of June, and was due to join up with the New Road outfit this week in order to be ready for their first 20-over match of the season, Friday night’s trip to local rivals Warwickshire.

However, the in-form pace bowler, who was named man-of-the-series for the recent Twenty20 games, was added to the Pakistan squad for their on-going five-match one-day international series against Sri Lanka after opening batsman Nasir Jamshed was ruled out with a broken finger.

The Pakistan-Sri Lanka ODI series doesn’t finish until Monday and County officials are frantically trying to sort out a visa with the authorities so Tanvir can fly direct to England on Tuesday, rather than via Pakistan, which could delay him even further.

Worcestershire chief executive David Leatherdale is optimistic they can cut through the red tape and hopes to have Tanvir, who has taken 56 one-day wickets in 45 matches, available for the club’s third FL t20 game of the season — next Wednesday’s trip to Glamorgan.

Leatherdale said: “After being added to Pakistan’s one-day squad, Sohail will now be in Sri Lanka until Monday, but we are trying to sort out his visa now.

“We have spoken to the British Embassy over there to try and organise a visa so he can fly direct to England and avoid having to go back to Pakistan first.

“We hope he will be available for the Glamorgan game and will only miss the first two games or our FL t20 campaign.

“It is frustrating, but that is the way of the world with getting good overseas players these days.

“As far as getting visas are concerned, there seem to be more and more hoops to jump through.”

Tanvir’s delayed arrival is not the first time Worcestershire have been frustrated by last-minute changes to their plans with regard to overseas recruits this term.

Australian batsman Phil Hughes was intending to play the entire season with the County.

However, he ended up missing the first six weeks of the campaign after being included in a Cricket Australia training camp, leaving compatriot Mike Klinger to deputise for him at New Road.