Watch the third Test between Windies and England at 1.30pm on Saturday
Friday 8 February 2019 09:27, UK
Northamptonshire have signed Windies captain Jason Holder for the start of the county season.
Holder, who led his country to a Test series victory over England last week, will be available for the first two matches of the County Championship season and six Royal London One-Day Cup matches.
The 27-year-old has scored 1,783 runs at an average of 33.64 and taken 93 wickets at 27.69 in 37 Tests but won't get the chance to improve his statistics after the International Cricket Council suspended him for the third and final Test against England for his team's slow over rate during their series-sealing win in Antigua.
"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," said Holder, whose move is subject to approval from Cricket West Indies.
"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 which I am really looking forward to."
Head coach David Ripley revealed: "Our discussions with Jason have been on-going for some weeks now.
"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 the third major international player to have signed with Northamptonshire for 2019, after the county snapped up South Africa batsman Temba Bavuma and Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashraf.
Watch the third Test between Windies and England live on Sky Sports Cricket from 1.30pm on Saturday.
You can also follow over-by-over commentary and in-play clips on our rolling blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app.
