WORCESTER’S Old Elizabethans have secured a Pakistan international in their bid for promotion from Birmingham and District Premier Cricket League Division Two.
The capture of Nasir Jamshed, 26, is a real coup for the club as his one-day international batting average is a healthy 31.51 with three centuries.
The left-handed opener last played for Pakistan at the ICC World Cup in March 2015 but has also figured in two Tests and a string of T20 internationals.
OEs’ cricket committee chairman Steve Walsh said Nasir would arrive after playing in a domestic one-day tournament in Pakistan.
The Worcester club begin their promotion push at home to promoted Stratford on Saturday, April 30, at the Memorial Ground in Perdiswell.
Walsh said: “There is a chance Nasir will be here for the first league game but he might miss that one.
“He’s a fantastic signing. We expect him to score a stack of runs and add experience to quite a young side. I believe he’s quite an explosive opening batsman.
“We were able to sign him just by chance through a cricket agent. We had been close to signing a pretty good Australian cricketer but that fell through.
“Nasir and his wife have a house in Birmingham and a baby, so he didn’t want to play county cricket and other Birmingham League clubs already had their overseas players.
“He’ll be our highest-profile player since Richard Illingworth in 2009.”
OEs have also signed left-arm spinner and Loughborough University cricketer JJ Dilley, the son of late Worcestershire and England pace ace Graham, from Ombersley.
Batsmen Elliot Hennessy and Ash Bullock have signed from Barnards Green and Bromyard respectively with all-rounder James Padden and the returning Jack Taylor moving from Worcester and Brockhampton.
OEs have also signed Rushwick’s young player of the year for 2015, Harvey Groves.
The first XI will again be captained by Jamie Boyle, who believes the extra competition for places will have a positive impact on player performance.
Boyle acknowledged the hard work by the cricket committee to “secure new players to help strengthen the first-team squad and club in general”.
He hopes to have their most successful season to date.
In the ECB National Twenty 20 competition, OEs host 2015 Premier Division champions Shrewsbury at 2pm on Sunday.
The second XI, under Mike Payne, return to Division One following last season’s dramatic last-day promotion.
They visit Shrewsbury on the opening day and Payne believes his team have enough talent to prosper.
The third and fourth teams compete in Worcestershire League Division Five, providing juniors with their first opportunity to play senior cricket.
Junior training is on Friday evenings, while the growing women’s team have secured Australia women’s international Chloe Piparo as a coach for this season.
They train on Wednesday evenings and the four men’s Saturday teams meet every Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm until 8pm.
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