Somerset sign Sajid Khan in bid to avoid County Championship relegation

Somerset have signed Sajid Khan, the Pakistan offspinner, as their second overseas player for the final month of the County Championship season as they look to avoid relegation to Division Two.

Matt Renshaw and Peter Siddle, their overseas players for most of the 2022 season, have both returned to Australia and Sajid joins his compatriot Imam-ul-Haq in signing for the final four Championship games.

"I know that in recent years Babar Azam and Azhar Ali have enjoyed their time at Somerset, and I am looking forward to playing alongside Imam-ul-Haq again," Sajid said. "I hope that I can contribute to Somerset winning the last four County Championship games of the season."

Jack Leach, Somerset's frontline spinner, will be unavailable for the next two games while on Test duty, and Andy Hurry, their director of cricket, said the club felt it was "important to recruit an international quality spinner for the County Championship run in".

"After detailed consideration of all the options available to us, we felt that Sajid Khan was the standout individual," Hurry said. "He has proved his quality at the very highest level, and he is hungry to test himself in English conditions over the next few weeks.

"He is a player with an outstanding attitude, and he is well aware of exactly what County Championship cricket means to this club and its members and supporters."

Somerset are ninth in Division One heading into the final month of the season, though have a game in hand on Kent and Warwickshire who sit seventh and eighth respectively.