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Cape Town - Leicestershire County Cricket Club has further strengthened its plans for the NatWest T20 Blast with the signing of powerful South African batsman Rilee Rossouw.
The big-hitter will play in the final six NatWest T20 Blast group games of the English summer to provide cover for Umar Akmal, who is playing in the Caribbean Premier League.
Rossouw’s signing is a big coup for the Foxes and his first game will be against Derbyshire Falcons at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road on Friday, July 8.
The 26-year-old is a key figure in South Africa’s T20 setup and is in the Proteas’ 15-man squad for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in India.
Rossouw has made a big impression on the international scene with a T20I average of 34.55 and a hugely impressive strike rate of 145.32. He has also scored two ODI centuries and averages 33.07 on the world scene in that particular format.
In a T20 career that has spanned 84 games, Rossouw has scored more than 2 000 runs and has maintained a strike rate above 130. Those figures include a spell in the India Premier League when Rossouw played alongside Elite Performance Director Andrew McDonald for Royal Challengers Bangalore during the 2012 tournament.
McDonald commented of the county’s official website: “Rilee is a player that I know very well and he’ll be a fantastic addition to our squad both in terms of talent and temperament. He is a powerful batsman and having another left-hander in our batting line-up will prove to be useful.
“Umar made a massive impact for us while providing cover for Grant Elliott in 2015 and it’s great that we’ll now have cover for Umar when he goes to play in the Caribbean Premier League in July. Rilee is an ideal player to bring in and it’s great that we’ll have two overseas players available throughout the tournament.”
