Durham sign Chanderpaul and McKenzie
Durham have confirmed their overseas signings for 2008 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Neil McKenzie and Albie Morkel completing an attractive line-up
Cricinfo staff
15-Jan-2008
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Chanderpaul returns to Chester-le-Street after a successful stint in 2007, where he helped Durham win the Friends Provident final with 78 at Lord's. He will arrive for the second half of the summer after West Indies' home series against Australia is completed in early July.
The South African duo, McKenzie and Morkel, will share the overseas spot during the first part of the season. McKenzie, who returned to the South Africa Test side against West Indies before being injured, is set to arrive in time to start the season in April and will then give way to Morkel for the Twenty20 Cup.
Morkel enjoyed an impressive ICC World Twenty20 where he showed his powerful striking against England and also produced some useful medium pace. "I really want to make an impact on Durham's Twenty20 Cup campaign and I'm sure my experience in the World Cup will be really useful," he said. "There will be some pretty tough opposition but I'm looking forward to the challenge."
Geoff Cook, the head coach, is delighted to have two high-class batsmen coming back. "Diva [Di Venuto] and Shiv have both made invaluable contributions to the team and we're keen to start where we left off and their involvement will be a great asset," he said. "They have both had a tremendous influence on the team, both on and off the field, and it will be a great honour to welcome them back to the Riverside.
"To have players of Neil and Albie's calibre committing to the Durham cause is a great achievement. We are determined to improve our performance in the Twenty20 Cup and I think Albie will be a great asset to our set up. I'm sure Neil's involvement in the early stages of the season will get us off to the best possible start in 2008."