1:20pm Tuesday 2nd March 2010
ESSEX are on the verge of announcing the identity of their new Twenty20 signing.
The club have a deal in place to bring an international batting all-rounder to Chelmsford for this summer’s Friends Provident Twenty20 Cup.
The player is believed to be from New Zealand and will join Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria in the Essex ranks.
Essex coach Paul Grayson said: “We have agreed a new signing but it is yet to be announced. We have been working on this deal for two to three weeks and are delighted that it has been done.
“He will play in all 16 of our Twenty20 matches and is an all-rounder, a batting all-rounder but it needs to be approved by his international board.”
Teams are allowed to sign up to four overseas players for the Twenty20 competition this season and there was a feeling that Essex were being left behind.
Other counties were quick to snap up some of the big names in world cricket, with Middlesex set to add Indian Yuvraj Singh to the earlier signing of Australian Adam Gilchrist, while Yorkshire have signed South African Herschelle Gibbs.
One player who will not be turning out for Essex is South African batsman Hashim Amla, who has signed for Nottinghamshire for the first part of the season.
Amla was in sparkling form during the few weeks he spent with Essex last season, but with Ravi Bopara expected to be available for the majority of the summer, Essex’s need for a top-class batsman has eased.
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