AUSTRALIAN Mitchell Starc is in line to make his Yorkshire debut in Sunday’s Clydesdale Bank 40 clash against Derbyshire at Headingley.

The overseas left-arm fast bowler, 22, landed in England yesterday morning after being deported by the UK Border Agency last week due to problems with his visa.

He tweeted yesterday that it took him five minutes instead of five hours to pass through immigration at Heathrow, a reference to being held by the authorities when he first flew to England ten days ago.

But the White Rose hierarchy are wary of the player’s physical condition after boosting his frequent flyer account in such a short space of time, and have therefore left him out of the squad for today’s County Championship clash with Hampshire at Headingley.

“We’ve decided that we’re not going to rush him into the squad to play Hampshire,”

confirmed Yorkshire’s firstteam coach Jason Gillespie.

“I think it’s just a bit too much to ask of a young lad to come in straightaway and have an impact.

“We want to give him the opportunity to get settled in, get to know his team-mates a little bit and get some really good training under his belt.

Hopefully he’ll be available later in the week for the onedayer.

“We’ll look to target that, but we’ll have to monitor it to make sure Mitch is ready to go. If we’re unsure, we will go on the side of caution. All things being equal, Mitch is just itching to play and get a Yorkshire shirt on. He’s very excited and pumped.”

Although he only signed for an initial five-week period, including Championship matches against Gloucestershire and Hampshire that he will have missed, Starc is expected to extend his stay with the White Rose county.

He has been left out of Australia’s one-day squad for their forthcoming tour of England, but has been named in the Aussie A squad for their tour of England between July 27 and August 17.

The New South Welshman could play four Championship, five Clydesdale Bank 40 matches and the whole of the Friends Life t20 group stages before linking up with his country’s second string squad for two four-day matches against the England Lions.

Gillespie, meanwhile, has suggested Yorkshire could still sign a second overseas player for Twenty20 as they bid to reach their first ever Finals Day.

The Tykes are one of only three counties, along with Derbyshire and Worcestershire, not to have played at Finals Day since the start of the competition in 2003.

“We’re looking at a few options as to whether we want to go down that path,” he said.

“We’ve had a bit of a chat with Martyn Moxon along with Andrew Gale about what we’re trying to achieve in t20 and whether it would benefit us having someone in there.

“But we haven’t got that far down the road yet.”