Yorkshire left frustrated as Best is delayed in Barbados

Now the Icelandic volcano which generated a giant cloud of ash, rendering much of Europe a no-fly zone, has scuppered their plans.

Among the millions of passengers stranded worldwide following the eruption of Mount Eyjafjallajoekull, some 75 miles south-east of Reykjavik, is Yorkshire's new overseas player Tino Best.

He had been expected to make his debut in Wednesday's County Championship match against Kent but is stuck in Barbados awaiting a flight.

Yorkshire have signed the West Indian pace bowler until the end of May after his work permit was finally approved over the weekend.

Delays in getting the paperwork processed had already kept him out of the club's opening two Championship games.

Now Yorkshire are crossing their fingers flight restrictions will be lifted in time for Best to play in Sunday's ECB 40 League opener against Essex at Chelmsford.

The club's overseas plans had already been thrown into chaos when first-choice signing Ryan Harris was called up by Australia ahead of the IPL before Daryl Tuffey, his initial replacement, was ruled out with a broken hand.

Yorkshire's chief executive Stewart Regan commented: "Tino won't be available for the Kent game.

"The situation at the moment is that he's sat in the airport at Bridgetown in Barbados waiting, like everyone else, for the flights to resume.

"He was due to fly on Sunday morning but the flight was cancelled because of the volcanic ash cloud.

"He's got his passport and work permit and all the necessary paper work; now he's just waiting for a flight."

Yorkshire believe the earliest Best can leave the Caribbean will be tomorrow and they are monitoring the situation on a daily basis.

"From the latest reports I've seen the volcano is still pumping out dust into the atmosphere at a rapid rate of knots, and the airlines are still extremely concerned about flying because of the potential for the dust to seep into the jet engines and cause major havoc," added Regan.

"Even when the planes do start flying, there'll probably be around 1,000 people ahead of Tino in the queue at Barbados airport, so it could take some time for the backlog to clear.

"But we're hoping he'll be able to play at Chelmsford next week and he's desperate to get here as soon as possible.

"What makes the situation all the more frustrating is that it comes on the back of two weeks of trying to sort out his work permit and various administrative matters."

Although Best will not feature against Kent, Yorkshire will have England duo Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad available for the match at Canterbury.

The pair have been given permission by the England management to take part in the game prior to linking up with the national squad on Saturday night ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup, which starts on April 30.

Yorkshire's director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon said: "Andy Flower (England's head coach) has been great about the situation.

"He gave the lads the option what they wanted to do and both of them said they wanted to play against Kent."

Depending on England's progress in the tournament, Bresnan and Shahzad will miss up to three Championship games.