Lancashire confirm Petersen deal

Lancashire have confirmed the signing of Alviro Petersen as the former England one-day coach, Ashley Giles, begins to restructure a county twice relegated from the LV= Championship First Division in the past two seasons.

Petersen, who has signed a two-year deal with Lancashire County Cricket Club with an option to extend to a third year, ended his international career immediately after South Africa's victorious Test series against West Indies earlier this month.

ESPNcricinfo signalled at the time that his expected destination was Lancashire. At 34, he joins Lancashire as a non-overseas player, subject to ratification by the ECB, and has previous county experience at Somerset, Essex and Glamorgan.

Petersen's arrival addresses one of the most pressing issues for Giles as he attempts to repeat the county success that saw him coach Warwickshire to the Championship title before embarking on an ill fated England coaching career. He was well placed to replace Andy Flower as England's director of cricket, but suffered from the fallout of a 5-0 Ashes defeat and lost out to Peter Moores, who then held the Lancashire job that Giles subsequently inherited.

Lancashire's frail top-order batting was a factor in their relegation. Luis Reece was unable to build on the promise he had shown in their promotion year in 2013 and Luke Procter spent the latter part of the season as a makeshift opener: both averaged less than 25.

Petersen played in 36 Tests for The Proteas scoring 2,093 runs with five hundreds, including one on debut against India and arrives at Emirates Old Trafford as a non-overseas player, subject to receiving official clearance.

Giles said: "We are delighted to bring a player of Alviro's calibre to Emirates Old Trafford. His experience at the top of the order, both internationally and domestically, is second to none and he will bring outstanding quality to our batting unit. He is a player who is well respected within the game and his experience will be of immense benefit to our younger batsmen."