Wayne Parnell can't wait to team up with 'exciting squad' after signing for Northants

Wayne Parnell says he is 'delighted' to be joining an 'exciting squad' after signing for Northants for the 2021 season.
Wayne Parnell has signed a one-year deal at NorthantsWayne Parnell has signed a one-year deal at Northants
Wayne Parnell has signed a one-year deal at Northants

The 31-year-old will be available for all three formats of the game this summer, and could make his debut for the club in their opening LV= County Championship against Kent in a month's time on April 8.

Parnell is a hugely experienced cricketer with a proven track record in first-class, 50-over and T20 cricket, and he joins Northants off the back of two seasons at Worcestershire where he helped the Rapids to the T20 title in 2018 as well as the final 12 months later.

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A left-arm seam bowler and left-handed batsman, Parnell has played six Tests and more than 100 white ball games for South Africa, as well as 75 first-class matches, 165 List A and more than 200 T20 matches for the various clubs, counties, franchises and provinces he has represented.

The Port Elizabeth-born player joins Northants having previously turned out in English cricket for Kent, Sussex and Glamorgan as well as Worcestershire, but had to end his association with the New Road club when he lost his status as a Kolpak player.

So he now comes to Northants as an overseas signing, and can't wait to get started.

"I am delighted to be joining Northants for the 2021 season across all formats," said Parnell.

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"I love county cricket and I hope I can contribute to the club being successful on all fronts.

“It’s an exciting squad with a really nice mix of youth and experience and I'm particularly looking forward to linking up with some old team-mates in Richard Levi and Chris Liddle, who is now the bowling coach."

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Parnell has not played red ball cricket since what turned out to be his final game for Worcestershire in September, 2019.

In 2020, he was unable to travel to the UK to play for Worcester and played hardly any cricket, but he was in action last month as he played for Northern Warriors in the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament.

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Steelbacks skipper Josh Cobb is very pleased to have Parnell on board for the T20 Blast campaign, and believes that the fact that both he and the club's second overseas signing, Mohammad Nabi, will be available for all 14 North Group fixtures is a big boost.

“Looking at our attack we’ve got a lot of bases covered now with pace, spin, control and now he gives us a left arm option as well so when you’re looking at match-ups, I feel we’ve got everything we need," said Cobb.

“He’s got a good record of bowling up front and taking wickets and his skills at the back end with yorkers too so I’m sure he’ll be a match winner for us.

“With the way international cricket is at the minute it can be hard to get players who are available for big chunks of the competition.

"So to have two overseas players for 14 games each is huge because you can build some momentum up and hopefully get on a run towards the back end of the group and really attack the finals.”

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