Peter Moores admits Lancashire are looking at alternative overseas players in case Kumar Sangakkara can’t join the club this season.

The Sri Lankan skipper is due at Old Trafford once the World Twenty20, a tri-nations tournament in Zimbabwe and the Asia Cup, which finishes on June 28, are over.

However Sri Lanka are now planning a one-day and Test series against India which would tie up Sangakkara until the middle of August.

The tour hasn’t yet been confirmed but if, as seems likely, it goes ahead, it means the 32-year-old would only be available for the last four weeks of the campaign.

Ashwell Prince will once again start the season with Lancashire, and Moores has revealed he is keen to keep the number of changes in the overseas slot to a minimum.

"Kumar is still on the cards at the moment," said Moores. "But if the series between India and Sri Lanka goes ahead it would move the goalposts.

"We may have to reassess whether Sangakkara is still the right person for us.

"We had what we thought was a good combination of Prince and Sangakkara, because you want minimum disruption to the side.

"We saw last year when VVS came in there is a period of time needed for a player to settle in and for the team to adjust to the change, and it came at a crucial time for us because we had a semi-final to play.

"VVS came in for Prince and Tom Smith was injured so people were in different roles – we had Mal Loye upfront with VVS instead of Horton and Smith.

"We didn’t quite play as well as we should have done and lost.

"We have learnt from that. We want good players, but we don’t continually want to keep chopping and changing either because it causes disruption.

"In an ideal world I would have one overseas player to a certain point and then another player from that point. We would only like to have one change but we might not be able to avoid having two.

"What we can do in the meantime is see what other options are available if that series goes ahead."

However, with most counties now having secured their overseas players and the international calendar as crowded as ever, it won’t be easy for Lancashire to find a replacement at short notice.

"We are looking around," said Moores. "You continually keep an eye on the movement because international schedules are pretty fluid, since the IPL came along they change all the time.

"This is where the structure of having Mike Watkinson as director of cricket and me as head coach works really well. I am working heavily with the players and Mike is tracking what is going on."

Prince is due to arrive in England in two weeks and is set play in the two-day friendly against Durham at Old Trafford which starts on April 8.

And Moores hasn’t ruled out the batsman staying for the whole season if the Sangakkara deal falls through, although he would miss a chunk of the Friends Provident t20 (CORRECT) campaign with South Africa due to tour the Caribbean in June.

"I can’t believe Ashwell won’t be selected to play against the West Indies," said Moores. "It is an option for him to come back."

This year counties are allowed two overseas players in the extended Friends Provident t20, but Moores admits Lancashire haven’t yet made up their mind if they will have any.

"We haven’t decided yet," said the former England boss. "We have a good twenty20 side, we showed that last year by losing just one of the zonal games.

"If we bring someone in they have to be of a quality that will really add something to the side because we have good players anyway.

"But we would be wrong not to look at the options at who is around if they could add something to us. Twenty20 cricket is big business now."