Yorkshire may be poised to sign New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming as their second overseas player.

Although Yorkshire will give no clue as to who they have in mind, the left-handed Fleming is believed to be high up their list.

The longest serving of the current Test captains, Fleming, 30, is a renowned fighter and would bring just the sort of steely determination to the batting which Yorkshire are looking for.

As well as leading his country with distinction, Fleming gave outstanding service to Middlesex when he played for them in 2001, scoring 1059 runs in 13 matches and hitting four centuries and six half-centuries.

Yorkshire chief executive Colin Graves admitted this week that the club were looking closely at the option of taking on a second overseas player to join Indian Yuvraj Singh and that that a deal could be struck within a week or so.

Updated: 11:08 Friday, June 06, 2003