Ashton Agar joins Northants as a temporary replacement for Sikander Raza

Agar, who has been called up for the T20 World Cup campaign in Australia, will join the team after the conclusion of the tournament, and will replace Raza when they head to Zimbabwe for their series against India.

“I’m excited to join the Steelbacks in the Blast this year,” said Agar. “There is an interesting mix of players in the squad and hopefully we are in a strong position at the table when I join.”

Agar, 30, was a member of the Australian team that won the 2021 T20 World Cup, and has won the Big Bash League with the Perth Scorcher.

He has taken 48 wickets in 47 T20Is for Australia, with best figures of 6 for 30 against New Zealand in Wellington in 2021.

“Ashton is a fantastic player with a real ability to change and win games,” said John Sadler, the Northamptonshire manager. “He has a winning mentality, he has played at a very high level and we are happy to have someone of his caliber in the team.”

“I hope he can contribute to doing well and win more games when he joins us.”

Agar’s first game will be on July 5 and his last game will be in Durham on July 14, when Raza will return to play the last two group games.

“We have a replacement for Ashton which is good, so we’re happy with the business we’ve done.

“Obviously the Zimbabwean series was announced after we signed Sikandar which is a shame but we still got him eight games at first, then the last two games and we were very happy with that.”