Cricket news - Holder set for County debut at Northamptonshire

West Indies captain Jason Holder is set make his county debut for Northamptonshire at the start of the 2019 season, the club confirmed on Thursday (February 7). He will be available for the first two Championship matches - against Middlesex from April 5 and Glamorgan from April 11 - along with six Royal London One-Day Cup games of the club.

Holder's participation, however, hinges on on No Objection Certificate from Cricket West Indies given that the season starts less than a couple of months ahead of the World Cup. Windies are scheduled to travel to Ireland in May as part of their preparations for the World Cup, which starts on May 30.

"England is somewhere I've wanted to play for a long time and I'm looking forward to the experience of county cricket and testing myself in the different conditions," Holder said in a statement issued by the club. "Northamptonshire has a reputation of being a good club to be a part of, with a tight-knit squad and coaches who want to get the best out of their players.

"I'm hopeful from a personal point that it will provide me a good opportunity of acclimatising to English conditions and getting some time in the middle ahead of the World Cup in England and I'm grateful to Northamptonshire for the opportunity."

Holder has been suspended from the upcoming third and final Test against England starting on Saturday because of a slow over-rate offence during the Antigua Test which, incidentally, the hosts won by 10 wickets inside three days. The World No. 1 Test all-rounder played a decisive role in Windies' victory in the Barbados Test, hitting an unbeaten double-century. He finishes the series with seven wickets at an average of 17.85.

Northamptonshire head coach David Ripley was naturally delighted to have an all-rounder of Holder's ilk in the setup.

"Our discussions with Jason have been on-going for some weeks now," Ripley said in a statement. "Jason is one of the world's top players and it will be great to have him as part of our squad during a period of the season where we will have both Specsavers County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup matches.

"He is a quality bowler, match-winning batsman, catches well at slip and his leadership experience will also be important, supporting and working with Alex Wakely and our other senior players."

Holder is Northamptonshire's third overseas signing for the 2019, following the acquisition of Temba Bavuma and Faheem Ashraf.