Notts could go without an overseas batsman in 2012 County Championship cricket – and director of cricket Mick Newell explains why.

In the absence of Aussie David Hussey for all but one of their four-day games, Adam Voges and Darren Bravo shared the role this summer, with only limited success.

Hussey is unlikely to be unavailable for the whole of next season and it is increasingly difficult to find a player willing to commit for an entire campaign.

And with Newell not overly keen on sharing the duties, he could instead pool his resources to instead pursue a 'quality' English player.

Should that happen, Notts would still be keen to draft in two overseas specialists purely for t20 cricket.

"To go with an overseas or another English player is a debate we have been having since the end of the season," said Newell.

"What is clear is that we need to secure another player of high quality to bat in the top five.

"I would snap your hand off if you said we could have Huss for the whole season, but that isn't likely to happen.

"In fact, it's difficult to get an overseas guy right the way through these days, especially with the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"Adam Voges was great for us, and I'm sure he'll be back here at some point in the future, but you need someone all season who is affecting the game.

"There is not a massive list of top order English players who are out of contract this winter, because good players tend to get tied down by their counties. But there are more about than overseas players.

"If we are going to go down the English route, we would hope to sort that out in the next month.

"If not, then we still have time to look at overseas players once we can compare the international fixtures with ours."

Notts have already secured the services of top order batsman Michael Lumb, signed from Hampshire, for the next three seasons.

They hope the left-hander can fill the void left by Mark Wagh – who left the club part way through this summer to take up a career in law – as well as contribute in the one-day format.

Newell said: "We need to have a core of experience and Michael should help with that at number three.

"Whether or not he can score as many runs there as Mark Wagh remains to be seen, but we certainly hope so.

"But he will also be effective in our one-day side, especially in t20 where he has a proven track record, which was not particularly the case with Waggy."

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