Flight crisis may rob Yorkshire of England duo

The pair could be pulled out of the game by the England and Wales Cricket Board if England are forced to make alternative travel plans for the Twenty20 World Cup.

The volcanic ash cloud which has shut down UK and European airspace means England may be forced to journey over land and sea to Dubai and then be airlifted to the West Indies for the tournament starting on April 30.

Paul Collingwood and his team may have to travel late on Friday night instead of Saturday night – meaning Bresnan and Shahzad could play only the first three days of the Championship match.

ECB regulations permit counties to replace players during Championship games if those players are required to link up with England.

Yorkshire – who have 12 men on duty at Canterbury – have yet to decide which players would take their places but would reinforce their squad from the second team, who are currently playing a four-day friendly against Lancashire at Stamford Bridge, scheduled to finish tomorrow.

Bresnan and Shahzad – who were yesterday named in England's 27-man Performance Squad for 2010 – were given special permission by England head coach Andy Flower to play at Canterbury, where Yorkshire will be seeking a hat-trick of victories under new captain Andrew Gale.

The club are already without overseas player Tino Best because of the ash cloud caused by the Icelandic eruption, with the West Indian pace bowler not expected to leave the Caribbean now until Sunday at the earliest – ruling him out of that day's ECB 40 League match against Essex at Chelmsford.

Commenting on the latest disruption, Yorkshire's chief executive Stewart Regan told the Yorkshire Post: "Unfortunately, the ongoing travel chaos means there is a possibility we will only have Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad for the first three days of the Kent game.

"The ECB are in emergency planning mode in the event there are no flights at the weekend and they say the England team may have to travel overland to Dubai on Friday night.

"Of course, the situation is changing hourly and it's impossible to predict what will happen, but the ECB have assured us we will know well in advance whether we need to send replacements down to Canterbury. I've been joking with Martyn Moxon that the best thing from our point of view would be to win the game in three days!"

Regan said Yorkshire had ruled out asking Best to undertake a circuitous journey via land and sea. The 28-year-old had hoped to make his debut at Canterbury after his work permit was approved at the weekend.

"We've looked into ways in which Tino could potentially get here by another route, but it wouldn't be fair to drag him 2,000 or 3,000 miles overland," added Regan.

"The last thing we want is to shatter the guy out because we need him firing on all cylinders when he gets here.

"At the moment, Tino is scheduled to take a flight from Barbados on Sunday and we're crossing our fingers that will happen.

"If it does, and with a day or two to acclimatise, he could potentially play in our Championship match against Durham at Headingley Carnegie, starting on Tuesday."

England are not the only country struggling to get to the Caribbean.

Eight of the 12 participating nations have yet to make the trip, forcing the International Cricket Council to draw up contingency measures that would also involve those countries flying from Dubai.

Ireland and Zimbabwe are already in the Caribbean, while New Zealand are set to travel via the United States.

England's first warm-up game is against Bangladesh in Barbados a week today, while their opening group match is against West Indies in Guyana on May 3.

Depending on England's progress, Bresnan and Shahzad will miss up to three Championship fixtures.

n Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid has also been named in England's Performance Squad – designed to help selectors monitor the development of international players and better prepare them for international cricket.

Former Yorkshire batsman and current Hampshire player Michael Lumb is the only uncapped member of the party.

ENGLAND'S SELECTIONS

England's 2010 Performance Squad:

J Anderson (Lancs), I Bell (Warks), R Bopara (Essex), T Bresnan (Yorks), S Broad (Notts), M Carberry (Hants), P Collingwood (Durham), A Cook (Essex), J Denly (Kent), S Finn (Middx), C Kieswetter (Somerset), M Lumb (Hants), E Morgan (Middx), G Onions (Durham), K Pietersen (Hants), L Plunkett (Durham), M Prior (Sussex), A Rashid (Yorks), O Shah (Middx), A Shahzad (Yorks), A Strauss (Middx), R Sidebottom (Notts), G Swann (Notts), J Tredwell (Kent), J Trott (Warks), L Wright (Sussex), M Yardy (Sussex).