Image Credit- CA
In a calculated risk, Surrey announced on Wednesday
that Australian seamer Sean Abbott and fellow countryman Aaron Hardie will
rejoin the team in May and June for the T20 Blast.
Abbott and Hardie are both outsiders for Australia’s T20 World Cup team, which
coincides with the first month of Blast group stage matches. Although both
players participated in Australia’s most recent series victory over the West
Indies, neither is included in the team’s full strength roster for the
three-match series that Australia will play in New Zealand beginning next week
in Wellington.
“Sean is a highly skilled cricketer, and everyone
saw last season what he is capable of in red-ball and white-ball cricket,”
Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, said. “He had an outstanding
impact as a cricketer and as a member of the dressing room… Sean is exactly
what we look for in an overseas professional at this club.”
Following the announcement of Hardie’s contract last
week, Surrey secured both of the overseas berths for the first part of the
Blast’s group stages, and it is seeming less and less likely that Sunil Narine
will rejoin the team in time for the competition this year. Narine has played
for Surrey for the past two seasons, however he controversially skipped last
year’s Finals Day because of a conflict with his MLC obligations.
With Gus Atkinson, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, and Reece Topley set to play, as
well as Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, and Jamie Overton in the mix, their team will
undoubtedly be impacted by England’s T20 World Cup intentions.