Promotion-chasing Leicestershire want South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj on board for their anticipated return to the top flight of the County Championship for the first time since 2003.

The world's No 1 ODI bowler has enjoyed an outstanding first-class career of 632 wickets, excelling during two previous stints in England. The 35-year-old took 17 Championship wickets at 16.64 runs apiece for Lancashire in 2018 and then bagged 38 at 18.92 after switching to Roses rivals Yorkshire the following year.

He also had a return stint at Yorkshire scrapped by the pandemic in 2020, then had to pull out of a deal with Middlesex in 2023 after rupturing an achilles tendon while celebrating a wicket for South Africa. 

Leicestershire went into the last three Championship rounds needing 21 more points to seal a first promotion since the competition was split into two divisions at the turn of the century. And they are already setting their sights on reinforcements. 

Although they have the leg spin of young England all-rounder Rehan Ahmed at their disposal, the likelihood is that international calls will rule him out of contention for chunks of the 2026 season.

Daily Mail Sport understands Maharaj, man of the series in each of South Africa’s 2-1 ODI series wins against Australia and England this past month, has been identified as the No 1 option for a four-month stint.

Australian Peter Handscomb will return as captain in 2026, but Netherlands international Logan van Beek signed only a season-long deal in February and a quality spinner is viewed as essential to Leicestershire’s director of cricket Claude Henderson.

Henderson's canny recruitment on a modest budget has already seen seasoned campaigners Stevie Eskinazi, of Middlesex, Somerset duo Ben Green and Josh Davey, plus ex-Yorkshire captain Jonny Tattersall commit to next year and beyond at Grace Road.

One out, two in at Taunton

One player who won't be joining Leicestershire despite their advances is man of the moment Sean Dickson, who was surprisingly deemed surplus to requirements at Somerset despite leading them to Twenty20 finals day last weekend with a blistering 71 not out off 26 balls against Birmingham Bears.

Glamorgan have pulled off a coup by handing the South African-born power hitter a two-year contract, taking advantage of his desire not to move a young family settled in the south west.

Although the 34-year-old averaged in excess of 35 in first-class action for both Durham and Kent, it has been as a white-ball wrecker that he has thrived since switching to Taunton, striking at a rate of 156 runs per 100 balls in Twenty20

His arrival in Cardiff will offset the middle-order loss of Sam Northeast who, as Daily Mail Sport revealed earlier this summer, is returning to his native Kent after eight years away.

However, Somerset have retained another 34-year-old in Jake Ball, the seamer capped by England across all formats, who has signed a one-year extension despite being tracked by Kent and Essex since June 1, the date from which players in the final years of their contracts can talk to rival clubs.

And they have taken Bryce Street, the former Australia A opener who began his career with six hundreds and six 50s in 28 four-day appearances, on trial.

Left-hander Street spent time with Kent’s second XI earlier this summer, but Northeast’s signing scuppered chances of anything permanent there and Somerset have struggled to settle upon an opening combination this summer, using eight different players in eight different combinations across their 12 Championship fixtures.

Street was axed from Queensland’s Sheffield Shield squad earlier this year after averaging just 15.3 over the past two seasons, but he is trying to re-launch his career here by playing as a local cricketer on his UK passport, and at 27 has time to turn around his plummeting form.

De Caires commits to Lord's 

Josh de Caires, son of Michael Atherton, has opted to stay with Middlesex after regaining favour at the club.

The 23-year-old all-rounder had been pursued by Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, two teams with high pedigree coaches in Mickey Arthur and Darren Lehmann.

New eras for golden oldies

Three decorated white-ball cricketers are experiencing contrasting fortunes with regards to next summer.

Northamptonshire are hoping to persuade 40-year-old Ravi Bopara to reverse retirement plans, after powering them to T20 finals day with his swashbuckling century against Surrey.

Bopara has already embarked on a coaching career and has offers for work at the ILT20 in the UAE next winter, but age does not appear to have diminished his powers and Northants do not want this weekend’s extravaganza to be his farewell to English domestic action.

Northants are going for a third T20 Blast title this weekend to add to their 2013 and 2016 triumphs, which would tie Leicestershire and Hampshire for the most wins in the competition's 22-year history. 

It could be a goodbye for Hampshire’s Benny Howell on Saturday, though, with Nottinghamshire thought to be interested in an all-rounder who once flickered on England’s radar as someone able to clear the boundary with the bat and dupe opponents with his variations with the ball.

The Bordeaux-born 37-year-old, who spent 11 seasons with Gloucestershire from 2012 through 2022, sent down a miserly spell of 4-0-28-2 as Hampshire eased past Durham in last week’s quarter-final at Chester-le-Street.

Adam Rossington, the third of the trio, is surplus to requirements at Essex after re-negotiating a limited-overs contract in the spring.

The former Middlesex and Northamptonshire wicketkeeper-batsman has an impressive CV, including a Blast win and two SA20 titles with Sunrisers Eastern Cape - top scoring with 57 in the 2023 final for the South African franchise.

Sweetener for Championship reform 

Counties are being offered extra one-day games as a sweetener for reducing the County Championship to a 13-match season from 2026.

The 18 first-class chairmen are being asked to vote in a last-ditch bid for change next Monday after months of debating the domestic schedule. The choice is straightforward: revert to a new style Championship in which the top division is expanded to 12 teams and then split into two groups, or remain with the current 14-match system in which the divisional-split is 10-8.

Traditionally powerful counties like Surrey and Yorkshire are against a reduction in fixtures, but it is hoped that those voicing intentions to abstain during a marathon consultation process with the Professional Game Group (PGG) can be persuaded to vote for three new-look competitions starting next year - amounting to just four days being snipped from the calendar.

It has already been agreed that the Vitality Blast will move to a 12-game group stage (down from 14) and the new proposals are based on the MetroBank One-Day Cup replicating Twenty20’s three-group structure.

This year’s competition saw each club play a guaranteed eight one-day matches, but by playing each of your randomly drawn group opponents home and away, 10 round-robin fixtures would be on the horizon from next summer. That offer has been made to appease clubs concerned that county members would not be offered sufficient cricket to attend during the month of August, when the Hundred takes place.

It comes alongside a newly proposed top tier Championship - involving a late-season split similar to that used by the Scottish Premiership in football. This version of a 13-match season was thrown out weeks ago, but has returned as the preferred fresh alternative during the final throes of this season.

Teams would play five home and five away matches, and then three further ones against opponents from the other group based on table standings: finish in the top three in Group A and your September fixtures would be against the top three sides from Group B, while a bottom three finish would mean three against the fourth, fifth and sixth.

The county champions would be the team accruing the most points over the season and the two teams with fewest points would be relegated. The top two teams in Division Two - playing some opponents twice and others three times - would be promoted.

That structure is not the only imperfect part of the proposals, as late-season fixtures will only become apparent in late July, potentially creating scheduling chaos dependent on who finishes where and ground availability. Not least because there will be a raft of international fixtures for both men and women to work around each September.

Critics argue that it is too much hassle for losing such a minimal amount of the schedule, but the PGG are banking on an expanded 50-over tournament and a 33 per cent chance of promotion for anyone finding themselves in Division Two of the Championship as potential deal sealers for the start of a new era.