SHANE WARNE will try to persuade Shane Watson to return to Hampshire when the Australian all-rounder recovers from his Ashes disappointment.

Watson, 23, was yesterday left out of Australia's 16-man squad for this summer's Ashes series.

Now Warne and manager Paul Terry want him to play for Hampshire for two months.

Watson has previously said he wouldn't return to the Rose Bowl in 2005 but is now believed to be open to offers again.

Queensland-born Watson is in Australia's one-day squad but could make himself available from mid-July until mid-September, when Warne and Simon Katich will be involved in the Ashes.

Terry said: "Shane Watson is certainly someone we're going to have a chat with. He's going to be pretty disappointed at the moment so we're going to leave it a few days before we speak to him, but he is one of our targets.

"I'm a little bit surprised he was left out of the Ashes squad because he played well in the one Test he has played."

Watson scored a breathtaking 112 in his only championship match for Hampshire last year, against Somerset at the Rose Bowl.

He also played two National League games, as well as playing a key role in the county's qualification for the Twenty20 Cup quarter-finals - hitting an unbeaten 97 against Kent, Hampshire's highest individual score in the competition's wo-year history.

Three months ago he made his Test debut in Sydney, scoring 31 and taking 1 for 60 as Australia beat Pakistan by nine wickets.

Terry is also looking to sign a second replacement overseas player, who would take Katich's place when the one-day series begins in June.

But has ruled out signing Western Australia batsman Chris Rogers, who has been lined up by South Wilts to play Southern Premier League cricket this summer.

Former Derbyshire batsman Rogers, 27, has scored 3,599 first class runs at 43.89, but Terry added: "That's probably not going to be a signing we'll be making."

Warne arrives back in Southampton this weekend and will be available to skipper the county for 11 championship matches, nine totesport National League games and the group stage of the Twenty20 Cup.

The 35-year-old is also available for the first two rounds of the C & G Trophy but the quarter final on July 15 would be the first game he would miss, were Hampshire to reach the last eight.

And by the time he and Katich are available again for two championship and two totesport League games against Glamorgan and Nottinghamshire in September, Warne would have missed six totesport games and five championship matches.

Katich misses the bulk of the campaign because he is in both the one-day squad and the Ashes party.

As it stands, he will only be available for eight championship games (out of 16) and seven totesport League games, as well as the first two rounds of the C & G Trophy.

But he could also be available to play another championship match at Nottinghamshire and a totesport game against Lancashire at Old Trafford if he is not required to join Australia's training camp in the first week of June.