Somerset have been informed by Cricket South Africa that Francois du Plessis is no longer available for this season’s FLt20 Cup.

Du Plessis was expected to join the County in place of Chris Gayle as their second overseas player alongside his fellow countryman Albie Morkel, however the all rounder has now been selected by South Africa to play in the A series against Sri Lanka at home as well as the T20 series in Zimbabwe.

Brian Rose the Somerset Director of Cricket said: “This news is not entirely unexpected because Du Plessis has done so well with his performances in the IPL which has put him right back in the selectors eyes.”

“It’s always a risk and a gamble these days when you sign any overseas player that they might get called up by their national side at any time and that has happened in this case. ”

Rose added: “I have been working on signing someone else of a similar nature and hope to be able to make announcement about a replacement for Du Plessis in due course.”