Otago sign Mohammad Wasim for 2002/03 season

Otago Cricket's batting stocks will be boosted this season by the appearance of former Pakistan Test player Mohammad Wasim.

The 25-year-old will arrive in Dunedin in early-October and will play club cricket before being available for all of the State Otago Volts' matches this summer.

Wasim scored a Test century as a 19-year-old on debut against New Zealand in Lahore during the 1996/97 Black Caps' tour, becoming the fourth Pakistani player to register a century in his first Test. Having been bowled for a duck by Simon Doull in the first innings, Wasim held the middle-order together in the second innings but couldn't prevent a Kiwi victory, the first by a New Zealand team in Pakistan since 1969/70.

Wasim's second Test century was a massive 192 against Zimbabwe in Harare in 1997/98.

In total he played 18 Tests between 1996/97 and 1999/00, scoring 783 runs at an average of 30.11, he has played 25 One-Day Internationals, harvesting 543 runs at 23.60 and is also a useful part-time wicket-keeper.

His 4,624 first-class runs, in 98 games, have come at an average of 31.24, including 12 centuries. Wasim is also an occasional right-arm leg-spinner.

Described as stylish, if a little slow in the early stages of his innings, Wasim will provide much-needed stability to Otago's batting, an area where the Volts have struggled in recent seasons.