Tuesday 19 May 2015 13:37, UK
Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle and Glenn Maxwell headline a number of star names set to play in the 2015 NatWest T20 Blast.
Who has been added to your team’s squad and when and where can you expect to see them in action? Here’s our guide to the T20 stars to watch out for…
Brendon McCullum only makes T20 Blast holders, Birmingham Bears, even stronger. He joins them on a seven-match deal once his IPL commitments with the Chennai Super Kings are finished.
Chris Gayle will turn out in one game fewer for Somerset, as a six-match signing, joined down at Taunton by imposing all-rounder, Corey Anderson.
Glenn Maxwell – despite struggling for Kings XI Punjab in this year’s IPL – adds further firepower to Yorkshire’s T20 squad, with international team-mate Aaron Finch joining him if he can recover from a hamstring injury.
James Faulkner and Moises Henriques add to the Aussie invasion, with spells at Lancashire and Surrey respectively.
Mahela Jayawardene and George Bailey meanwhile, will be sunning it up on the south coast at Sussex, while there’s sure to be mayhem in the midlands with Darren Sammy at Nottinghamshire.
Kumar Sangakkara is with Surrey making their clash with Sussex, and his personal battle with long-time international companion, Jayawardene, a must-watch.
Hashim Amla and Martin Guptill will be trading places, but providing plenty of entertainment up in Derby.
Shahid Afridi joins up with Northamptonshire, with countryman Umar Akmal and New Zealand’s World Cup semi-final hero, Grant Elliott, calling Grace Road home at Leicestershire.
Jeetan Patel has been a consistently canny performer for Warwickshire over the years, and T20 toe-cruncher and gun-for-hire, Yasir Arafat, lands with Hampshire this year.
West Indies speedster Fidel Edwards joins him at the Rose Bowl, Wayne Parnell is with Glamorgan, while Jesse Ryder and Shaun Tait ensure Essex are contenders again.
Vernon Philander and Ben Hilfenhaus – who will tag in for each other midway through the summer – are known more for the longer format but add to Nottinghamshire’s resources, as does Zimbabwe batsman, Brendan Taylor, who has signed as a Kolpak player.
We’ve only just scratched the surface. In fact, there are far too many names to squeeze into one article and teams are adding to their pool of talent all the time.
If there is any player not yet mentioned, you’ll find them listed below. Be warned, it’s not just the Ashes, where the Aussies are set to dominate this summer.
Sean Abbott (Australia) - Middlesex
Jackson Bird (Australia) - Hampshire
Mark Cosgrove (Australia) - Leicestershire
Peter Hanscomb (Australia) - Gloucestershire
John Hastings (Australia) - Durham
Michael Klinger (Australia) - Gloucestershire
Clint McKay (Australia) - Leicestershire
Tom Cooper (Netherlands) - Somerset
Colin Munro (New Zealand) - Worcestershire
Hamish Rutherford (New Zealand) - Derbyshire
Abdur Rehman (Pakistan) - Somerset
Wahab Riaz (Pakistan) - Surrey
Colin Ingram (South Africa) - Glamorgan
Richard Levi (South Africa) - Northamptonshire
Sachithra Senanayake (Sri Lanka) - Worcestershire
Watch the Nottinghamshire Outlaws take on the Birmingham Bears when Sky Sports’ T20 Blast coverage gets underway live on Sky Sports 2 from 6.30pm on Friday.
