Patel, Vettori and Pierrepoint.

Chatted to Jeetan Patel, who is still at home in Wellington, NZ, this morning and he said he expects to receive his passport back "in the next two days".

Sounds like it might get a bit tight for him to make his debut on Sunday.

Seems like a very nice chap (not an essential element in a cricketer, of course, but always preferable to being a not very nice chap) and is full of enthusiasm for a stint with Warwickshire.

"I'm really excited about playing day-to-day," Patel says in tomorrow's Mail. "In the last year or two I have had quite a bit of travelling with New Zealand without playing so I just want to play cricket. I can't wait to get started, hopefully against Scotland on Sunday. My passport should be through in the next two days and I will be on a plane as soon as it is."

A giant difference in approach there to the last New Zealand spinner to join the Bears. When Daniel Vettori was unveiled to the media at Edgbaston in 2006 he appeared to be relishing the challenges ahead in the same way that Albert Pierrepoint's clients relished the challenges of the noose. He was soon toddling off home with a "back injury".

Navdeep Poonia and Calum MacLeod will not play for Scotland on Sunday and are available to Warwickshire.