London, Dec 28 (Inditop.com) Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara will play for English county Lancashire next season.
Sangakkara’s early-season involvement will be disrupted by the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies and also a potential involvement in the Asia Cup, scheduled for June 15-25. Lancashire will have minimal wicketkeeping responsibilities at Lancashire.
“Kumar is hot property at the moment and rightly so. He is arguably the most consistent batsman in international cricket with an outstanding average in all formats, making his signing a real coup for Lancashire,” Lancashire coach Peter Moores was quoted as saying by The Guardian Monday.
“His experience and knowledge will be invaluable. Kumar has an excellent record in the traditional form of the game, but he is also at the fore when it comes to the rapidly evolving Twenty20 format having played in the IPL since its inception.”
Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s cricket director, did not rule out signing another overseas player as cover for Sangakkara during the early weeks of the season, which is particularly crammed with championship cricket next summer to make room for the relaunch of county cricket’s Twenty20 competition.
“We do have some talented homegrown batsmen in our squad but it’s important that we start the season off as strongly as possible and if the right overseas player is available, then that would be an ideal solution.”