Durham brings in Gibbs for T20

Herschelle Gibbs, the former South Africa batsman, has signed with Durham for the 2012 Friends Life t20. Gibbs will again link up with former England batsman Paul Collingwood after the pair played for Perth in Australia's Big Bash League.

Gibbs helped Perth reach the final of the BBL and will be hoping to guide Durham further than their quarter-final defeat against Hampshire last season. He has scored 3,050 runs in T20 cricket and has previous experience in the FLt20 with Glamorgan in 2008 and Yorkshire in 2010.

"Durham are really committed to their on the field development and have real ambitions to progress in T20," Gibbs said. "There is some massive talent in the dressing room and I can't wait to see what we can achieve. I've been performing pretty well in the T20 format and I think I can offer some real variation to the side."

Gibbs plays a powerful brand of cricket, highlighted by his top one-day score of 175 from 111 balls which helped South Africa chase down a world-record target of 435 to beat Australia at Johannesburg in 2006. During his previous stint in the FLt20 he made his first T20 century, scoring 101 from 53 balls for Yorkshire against Northamptonshire at Headingley.

"It is a real coup for us to bring a player of Herschelle's calibre to our set up for the FLt20," Durham head coach Geoff Cook said. "It just goes to show that Durham's reputation as a progressive and successful club can attract quality players who want to help us win trophies. I'm confident he will add an extra dimension to our batting line up and some real personality in the middle."