Leicestershire sign Behardien for T20 Blast

English county side Leicestershire have signed South Africa international batsman Farhaan Behardien for a portion of the T20 Blast to cover for injured compatriot Rilee Rossouw.

Leicestershire initially acquired the services of Rossouw to cover for Pakistan international Umar Akmal, who will be away playing in the Caribbean Premier League.

Rossouw though injured his shoulder playing for the Proteas in an ODI against Australia in a tri-series tournament in the West Indies and was ruled out of his stint in England.

Behardien, who is also representing the Proteas in the Caribbean, has scored 1 888 runs at an average of 29.04 and possesses a handy strike rate of 123.56 in 118 T20 games and could play his first game for the Foxes on 8 July.

Leicestershire's elite performance director Andrew McDonald said: "We were keen to add another overseas player to our roster for when Umar was leaving for the Caribbean Premier League and were happy to have secured Rilee's services.

"Unfortunately it was a case of bad timing with the injury, so we have moved quickly to secure a quality replacement in Farhaan.

"We were looking for a batsman who can slot straight into Umar's role and feel that Farhaan ticks all of the boxes for us. We look forward to him joining up with us in due course."

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