Hastings signs for Sussex

Sussex have signed Australia allrounder John Hastings as a second overseas player for the Friends Life t20 competition. Hastings, who has represented Australia in all three formats, made a strong impression on the Sussex players involved in the BBL and will join up with Scott Styris as the overseas players at the club. Sussex made it to the semi-finals of last year's FLt20.

"John should be a perfect fit for the club and we're delighted to have him on board," Mark Robinson, Sussex's cricket manager said. "John is a skilful bowler and a hard-hitting lower-order batter.

"Both Matt Prior and Luke Wright played with him during the Big Bash and both pushed hard for us to approach John for the competition."

Hastings, 27, made his Test debut during the series against South Africa last year and has played in 11 ODIs and three T20Is. He has taken 25 T20 wickets at 30.32 and collected three from five matches for the Melbourne Stars during the recent BBL.

Hastings said: "I can't wait for the opportunity to help the team in going one step further this season. It has always been a huge goal of mine to play in an English summer, and I couldn't be happier about my upcoming time at Sussex."