Northants bolster bowling attack with the signing of Australian Chris Tremain

The New South Wales pace bowler has penned a short-term deal at Wantage Road, and is in line to make his debut for the club in Thursday's season opener against Kent at Canterbury.

He will then be on board at the County Ground for the next two matches against Middlesex and Hampshire, which will both be played in Northampton.

Tremain and fellow Aussie Sam Whiteman, who has signed a season-long deal with Northants, are both due to arrive in the UK on Monday.

Neither of them have ever played first-class cricket in England before.

“Playing county cricket has always been a bucket list thing for me, so I’m really excited to play for Northamptonshire and grateful for the opportunity,” said Tremain.

“It’s been a pretty quick turnaround from the end of our season, so I’m glad we could get everything sorted in time to get me on the plane.

“I’m really excited to meet my team-mates and get stuck in for round one.”

Tremain is 31, and is a right-arm pace bowler.

He has played a total of 79 first-class matches in his career, claiming an impressive 288 wickets at an average of 24.02. he has a strike-rate of a wicket every 50 balls.

With the bat, he has also scored a first-class century, and one other score of more than 50.

Tremain has represented Australia in four One Day Internationals, all in 2016, and has more recently also played red ball cricket for Australia A.

At New South Wales, Tremain was a team-mate of former Northants seamer Trent Copeland, who retired at the end of the Australian domestic season

In the 2022/23 campaign, Tremain claimed 20 wickets in nine matches at an average of 29.95.