AUSSIE-ITALIAN Joe Scuderi will start training with Lancashire in January after Lord's dropped their opposition to his application to be struck off the overseas quota.

The former Nelson and Colne coach is Australian born and bred but his family hail from Italy and he has already represented the Italians at cricket, which forced Lord's to register him as an EC- qualified player under European law.

His signing was ratified at the last meeting of the First Class Forum in London, meaning that he will be eligible to line up alongside Muttiah Muralitharan for Lancashire next season.

Lancashire will start their pre-season training under caretaker coach John Stanworth at the new Total Fitness centre in Wilmslow in early December, although Scuderi will not join them until the start of his contract on January 4.

Lancashire are still no closer to appointing a new head coach to succeed Dav Whatmore, who left to return to Sri Lanka in July.

But they are believed to be on the brink of announcing a new second team captain/coach after the shock departure of Peter Sleep in September, with former first team captain Mike Watkinson a leading contender.

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