AMIT Mishra is being lined up as a possible replacement for Ashley Noffke as Worcestershire’s overseas player for the final stages of this season.

With the Australian all-rounder ex-pected to return home in mid-August, director of cricket Steve Rhodes is frantically searching for a replacement.

The Indian leg-spinner, who has played five Tests, taking 20 wickets, and three one-day internationals, was omitted from the squad currently touring the West Indies.

The 26-year-old picked up a five-wicket haul against Australia on his debut in the autumn and played in the two Tests against England later in the winter.

Now the struggling New Road side are in talks with the spinner.

“Amit is certainly on our list of players that we are talking to,” Worcestershire chief executive Mark Newton said.

“But I must stress that he is one of many players that we are talking to.”

The County know that, given the length of time it takes to obtain a work permit, they must act fast.

Before the start of the current campaign there were delays in players from around the world gaining work permits — Noffke included.

Newton expects it would take more than four weeks to sort out the necessary paperwork before any signing can be finalised.

“If you can get a work permit through in a month then you have done extremely well,” he said.

“The bureaucracy and paperwork is a lot tougher than it used to be.”

While Mishra has played the necessary one Test in the past 12 months to qualify for a work permit, other measures, including biometrics at special centres around the world, make matters more complicated.

Another player thought to be on the County radar is former New Road favourite, pace bowler Zaheer Khan.

But it seems unlikely he would be given permission by the Board of Control for Cricket India to play in England for the last part of the summer after being rested for the West Indies tour due to a shoulder injury.

Newton has said that Worcestershire have not received any more formal 28-day notice of approaches for either Steve Davies or Chris Whelan.

Both players are out of contract at Worcestershire this term and Yorkshire and Surrey have made moves for Davies, while Kent are in the hunt for Whelan.

The chief executive also said that no decision has been made on the future of injured seamer Simon Jones.

The Welsh pace ace was ruled out for the season earlier this month with him needing more time to recover from a knee injury.

But with him being out of contract this autumn the club are expected to discuss his future shortly.