BOLTON pair Karl Brown and Haseeb Hameed are being considered for the job of opening the batting for Lancashire in LV= County Championship cricket, starting at Leicestershire on Sunday.

Cricket director and head coach Ashley Giles is looking for a replacement for Luis Reece, who has broken his hand and will be out for “a long time”, according to the ex-England limited overs coach.

Reece has endured a wretched start to the season, scoring only 60 runs from seven innings, and he is understood to have suffered the break in a dressing room accident following his dismissal for two against Gloucestershire on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old was given out lbw, despite a strong hint of inside edge, and he looked inconsolable as he trudged off the field.

Brown and Hameed are two of four candidates to line up alongside Paul Horton, although ex-South African Test opener Alviro Petersen is set to remain at number three.

Brown, aged 26, has scored two second-team fifties as an opening batsman this summer, including 79 in a three-day match against Sussex on a tricky pitch at Hove.

Eighteen-year-old Hameed, who was sub-professional for Egerton last weekend and has yet to make his first-team county debut, has only recently returned from England Under-19s duty in Australia.

He is completing his A-level exams at Bolton School, and Lancashire would have to ask for those to be rescheduled before selecting him to play at Grace Road.

“Luis has broken his hand. He is going to be out for a long time, which is unfortunate. But it is an opportunity for someone else,” confirmed Giles.

“I don't know how he has done it. I am going to have to look into that situation and let you know. I need to speak to him and get to the bottom of it.

“The second XI have a couple of guys who are playing well, so there are options.

“We have Liam Livingstone, Karl Brown and Luke Procter. We have guys with varied amounts of experience who can come in, and Haseeb is one of them.

“We need to consider everything.

"Apart from Has, we don't have a natural opener, but I like Alviro and Ash (Prince) at three and four. It gives us some stability and strength.”

Lancashire begin their NatWest T20 Blast campaign tonight against Leicestershire at Emirates Old Trafford, starting 6.30pm. The Red Rose lost in the final of the competition last year.