ENGLAND one-day sensational Kevin Pietersen gives the thumbs up to news that he is expected to make his eagerly-awaited Hampshire debut tomorrow.
Pietersen is expected to have recovered from a foot injury in time to make his debut against Gloucestershire at the Rose Bowl.
But the bad news for captain Shane Warne is that all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas is set to miss his first county championship match in three years with a hamstring injury.
Mascarenhas, who has played in 47 successive championship matches since missing the opening game of the 2002 season, is expected to recover in time to play against the Essex Eagles in Hampshire's first totesport National league match on Sunday.
But Pietersen should play, despite fears that a stress fracture to a metatarsal bone in his left foot would delay his Hamphire bow.
Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove last night confirmed that the Rose Bowl will stage an England v Pakistan floodlit one-day international in September 2006.
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