Sussex sign Wiese for Blast burst

Sussex have agreed a short-term deal for South Africa allrounder David Wiese to appear in the NatWest T20 Blast. Wiese, who was part of his country's World T20 campaign before joining Royal Challengers Bangalore for the IPL, will play two games for Sussex before the arrival of Mustafizur Rahman.

Wiese has only played once so far in this year's IPL but he has spoken to Sussex's Chris Jordan, who was signed by RCB last month, about the opportunity to play at Hove. Sussex already have Ross Taylor as one of their two overseas signings.

"I am really excited to be joining Sussex and taking part in the NatWest T20 Blast campaign," Wiese said. "I have always wanted to play county cricket and from speaking to Chris Jordan here in the IPL and my discussions with Mark Davis I have heard a lot of very good things about the club."

Wiese, 31, made his international debut in 2013 and has played 20 T20Is and six ODIs for South Africa. A tall, powerful batsman and medium-pace bowler, he has a T20 strike rate of 150.30 with the bat and has taken 99 wickets at 22.17 in his career to date. He is expected to be available for Sussex's two home Blast games next week, on June 1 and 3.

Sussex's head coach, Mark Davis, said: "It's great to have David joining us fresh from the IPL. He is an accomplished cricketer in T20, having played a key role for South Africa in the format. He can bowl at any stage of the innings, and is a hard-hitting batsman, which makes him a valuable cricketer and we look forward to him being an asset to us whilst he is here at Hove."

Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur is expected to be given some time off to rest before making his trip over after the IPL, where he has been in fine form for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who alongside RCB are in contention to reach Sunday's final.