Colin Ingram signs with Adelaide Strikers

Following two impressive seasons in the NatWest T20 Blast, former South Africa batsman Colin Ingram has been drafted as an overseas player for Adelaide Strikers, who finished sixth out of eight teams in the last Big Bash League season.

Ingram had ended his international career with nine Tests and 31 ODIs when he signed a Kolpak deal with Glamorgan in 2014. He has since been dominating the T20 run-charts in England; this year he has made 381 runs in 11 innings at a strike-rate of 168, including two hundreds. And in 2016, he racked up 502 runs from 14 innings at a strike-rate of 164, including one century and four fifties.

Strikers coach Jason Gillespie, who had spent several years as head coach of Yorkshire, had been keen to bring Ingram on board. "The decision was made that we'd look over the world of an overseas batsman and we found a quality one in Colin. He's a guy who can bat in the top four and who can make the crowd excited. "He gives it a whack. He has a lot of T20 experience and adds a great deal to our batting line-up. I know that he's absolutely thrilled and he's really committed and really excited to be linking up with us."

An extra week has been added to the BBL schedule in 2017, with the final expected to be played on February 4. The expansion has given an additional home game for each team and the opportunity to explore new venues.