Middlesex have signed Australian Adam Gilchrist for next year's Twenty20 campaign and hope to recruit Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar as well, the English county side said on Thursday.
Gilchrist, a record-breaking wicketkeeper and high-scoring batsman, retired from international cricket in 2008 and captained the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chargers to the Indian Premier League title this year.
"Playing domestic cricket in England is the last important piece in my resume as a professional cricketer and I feel very fortunate that I can now realise this ambition at Lord's with Middlesex," he told the club website (www.middlesexccc.com).
Middlesex chief executive Vinny Codrington confirmed that Tendulkar, the highest scoring batsman in Test cricket, was also a target.
"Middlesex are able to confirm that we have also been in consultation with both Sachin Tendulkar and his agent about him joining Middlesex in 2010," he said.
"As a result of Sachin's busy schedule of late however, representing India in the one-day series against Australia, playing in the current test series against Sri Lanka and celebrating his 20 years in international cricket, this is yet to be confirmed.
"He is due to be speaking to the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) about playing for us next season when the time is right...Middlesex are however confident that our conversations with Sachin and his agent will be fruitful."
Tendulkar, 36, last appeared in English cricket as a 19-year-old for Yorkshire in 1992, when he was the county's first overseas player.
The 36-year-old has since become the highest Test scorer with 12,777 runs as well as score of most Test centuries (42). He recently joined a list of 15 players whose international careers have spanned more than 20 years.
Under new ECB rules, each county can field two overseas players in Twenty20 cricket in 2010. The Daily Telegraph said the deals for both players would be part-funded by the Marylebone Cricket Club, owners of Lord's.
