Steve Rhodes says the length of paceman Kyle Abbot's spell with Worcestershire hinges on whether he receives any international call-ups from South Africa during the next two and a half months.
Abbott made his first class debut for the County in the Specsavers County Championship triumph over Leicestershire at New Road last week either side of playing in the NatWest T20 Blast matches against Derbyshire and Lancashire.
The 29-year-old, ruled out of the current Championship match at Northampton with a foot injury, has been recruited for the second half of the campaign.
But South Africa are scheduled to play two home Tests against New Zealand beginning on August 19 and August 27 respectively before a one-off ODI against Ireland on September 25 and then hosting five ODIs against Australia.
Rhodes said: "Is Abbott available for the rest of the season? It depends on South African selections.
"There have been some tournaments that have come up which when we signed Kyle weren't there but that's life and, if he does get picked, he will be playing for South Africa.
"But those are the gambles that are always taken. Some of the international series crop up all of a sudden and you have to take it on the chin and that could happen with Kyle.
"We'll just wait and see and hope he can play as much as he can for Worcestershire."
