At least eight overseas stars could miss the first six matches of the Bradford Cricket League's centenary season, partly due to the Gulf War.

The octet of Pakistanis, including current one-day international squad members Naveed Rana ul Hassan (Pudsey Congs) and Mohammed Hafeez (Idle), are being held up by visa problems.

The other six players are Undercliffe's Jaffer Nazir, pictured - a close-season signing from East Bierley - Azhar Abbas (Baildon), Kashif Raza (East Bierley), Sarfraz Ahmed (Woodlands), Rao Anjum (Spen Victoria) and Faisal Irfan (Cleckheaton).

Rana finished top of the First Division bowling averages last season, Nazir was fourth, Irfan ninth and Anjum 13th. Anjum and Rana also figured among the leading batsmen, while Hafeez was third in the batting and fifth in the bowling in the Second Division.

East Bierley's cricket chairman Ben Hemming said: "In a normal year, it can take up to 30 days for the Pakistani Embassy to process visas.

"But now Islamabad is the only visa centre in pakistan, the offices at Lahore and Karachi having been closed. Before the Gulf War started we were told there would be a 14-day delay, then it went to 30 and now it is at 60."

The season starts on April 19.