Foxes turn to Behardien as overseas injuries bite

Leicestershire have signed Farhaan Behardien as overseas cover for his fellow South African, Rilee Rossouw, in the NatWest T20 Blast.

Rossouw was due to arrive in UK to play for the Foxes in NatWest T20 Blast matches in place of Umar Akmal but suffered an injury playing for South Africa recently.

His place will now be taken by fellow South Africa international Behardien, who top-scored against Australia in the ODI that Rossouw hurt his shoulder in.

The all-rounder also has an impressive record in the shortest format of the game. In 118 T20 games, Behardien has scored 1,888 runs at an average of 29.04 and possesses a handy strike rate of 123.56.

Behardien also offers a handy medium pace option having taken 69 wickets in all formats including three in T20 at an average of 24.00. Those wickets have all come during 25 T20 International appearances for South Africa.

His first game for the Foxes is scheduled to be against Derbyshire Falcons on Friday, July 8.

Leicestershire's elite performance director Andrew McDonald said: "We were keen to add another overseas player to our roster for when Umar was leaving for the Caribbean Premier League and were happy to have secured Rilee's services.

"Unfortunately it was a case of bad timing with the injury, so we have moved quickly to secure a quality replacement in Farhaan.

"We were looking for a batsman who can slot straight into Umar's role and feel that Farhaan ticks all of the boxes for us. We look forward to him joining up with us in due course."