Northamptonshire captain Stephen Peters is confident that a deal for South African bowler Rory Kleinveldt can be sorted in the near future.
The County’s overseas berth is yet to be filled following the departure of Chaminda Vaas at the end of the 2012 season and the club have made no secret of the fact that they want to bolster their fast bowling stocks.
To that end they offered a contract to Australian Trent Copeland but the New South Welshman decided to stay at home and the next target on the list was Kleinveldt who made his Test debut in the recent series win over Australia.
The South African hierarchy have expressed doubts over the workload their employee could be subjected to in the county game but Peters believes the 29-year-old is keen to come to Wantage Road.
He said: “Things haven’t really moved on from where they were before.
“Kleinveldt is the player that we want and hopefully we’re close to securing his services.
“We do want him, we’ve made an offer but there is still a bit of negotiation to be done.
“He seems keen, we’re keen and we want to come to some sort of arrangement.”
One stumbling block that could surface is the ICC Champions Trophy which is scheduled for June and there is a strong possibility that Kleinveldt will be in his country’s squad for the event.
But this is something that Peters is well aware of and he accepts that it is all part and parcel of overseas recruitment these days.
He added: “You can’t be a mug to get in the current South African team and we know that the Champions Trophy is a possibility with him.
“But that’s something to worry about if it goes that far and it’s just another thing that makes it difficult to get players with all the other criteria being so strict.”
 |  |