Kim Barnett says new signing Mitchell Santner will give Derbyshire a quality all-round option and provide consistency for the second half of 2018.
The slow left-arm orthodox spinner has 78 Twenty20 wickets to his name across 78 matches.
Santner is also well accomplished with the bat, scoring 535 Test runs at an average of 25.47. In total, he has appeared in 41 first-class matches taking 59 wickets and scoring 1,651 runs, including two centuries.
Barnett says he’s delighted to secure a player of Mitchell skill and experience for the second half of the season, and believes he can have an impact with bat and ball.
He said: “We’re looking forward to seeing Mitch play. He is a great cricketer and certainly a very good one-day bowler.
“Mitch wants to play four-day cricket, and New Zealand cricket want him to play four-day and work on his batting. Billy is more than happy to also give him an opportunity in the top six, and John Wright also knows him well so we hope for all parties this will be a great deal.
“I was very impressed watching him bowl in the one-day series versus India, bowling at a great player like Kohli. He was scoring hundreds and knocking it everywhere and he was able to stop him which bodes well.
“He has the class to stop people scoring and he should be a potent force in the Vitality Blast.
Barnett added: “The bottom line is that we’ve got Mitch for the entire Vitality Blast and last seven four-day games which gives consistency and solid option for the second half of the season.
“Hopefully we will have the right players at the right time. We’ve going for a seam-bowling option for the early season, who we hope to finalise in the coming weeks, and then hopefully when it warms up we can finish the season with Mitch as our spin-bowling option.
“The balance is there, with Ravi Rampaul also signed for the entire season. It gives Billy lots of bowling options and an attack capable of taking 20 wickets, which we haven’t necessarily had over the last few years.”
Last chance! To celebrate the signing of all-rounder Mitchell Santner, we’re offering Club Membership for the discounted price of £149, if purchased before 21 February. Use promo code ‘Mitch149‘ online.
