Delhi Daredevils sign Dirk Nannes

Dirk Nannes, the Victoria left-arm fast bowler, has been signed up by the IPL's Delhi Daredevils. Nannes joins the team on the recommendation of Greg Shipperd, who coaches both the Victoria and Delhi sides, and is the third Australian to be signed by the team ahead of the tournament's second edition, after the Victoria allrounder Andrew McDonald and the New South Wales batsman David Warner.

Nannes was part of the Victoria and Middlesex teams that won the domestic Twenty20 competitions in Australia and England last year. "He meets our needs of a quick, quick bowler," a Delhi spokesperson told Cricinfo. Delhi signed Nannes on January 23, a day before the Twenty20 Big Bash final last week, which Victoria lost to New South Wales by five wickets.

He managed only a solitary wicket in the final, but was the third-highest wicket-taker with 12 victims at an average of 13.83 and economy-rate of 6.38. In 2007-08 he helped Victoria to their third successive Twenty20 title with figures of 4 for 23 against Western Australia in the final and finished as the top bowler in the tournament with 12 wickets. He was not as impressive in the subsequent Twenty20 Cup in England, with 14 wickets in nine games at an average of 17.57 and economy-rate of 7.47.

By getting Nannes, Delhi have managed to cover for the absence of Mohammad Asif, who quit the IPL for personal reasons, and now also have an express fast bowler in their ranks to join the likes of Glenn McGrath, Farveez Maharoof, Brett Geeves and Ashish Nehra. In addition to consistently peaking 140kph-plus speeds, Nannes gets the ball to swing late, making him a dangerous prospect.