Lancashire have bolstered their hopes of reaching the Champions League by signing Yasir Arafat for their Friends Life t20 campaign.
The all-rounder has played three Tests, 11 one-day internationals and seven Twenty20s for Pakistan, and is used to English conditions having played for Surrey, Kent and Sussex.
He will join up with the Red Rose in June and play just in the Twenty20 campaign. However, Lancashire are still waiting to find out if he will be joined in the squad by fellow Pakistan seamer Junaid Khan.
Although just last week the club were given permission by the Pakistan Cricket Board for Junaid to play, he could still be called up for their tour of Sri Lanka which has just been announced.
The trip – which involves three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s – runs from the last week of May until July 13, which clashes with the whole of Lancashire’s T20 group campaign. With Junaid having just recovered from a knee injury, Pakistan may want him to play for Lancashire to prove his fitness. But if Pakistan see the centrally contracted 22-year-old – who played a key role in helping Lancashire reach T20 finals day last season – as part of their plans then coach Peter Moores and cricket director Mike Watkinson may have to look at other options.
They will have no such issues with Arafat, however, with the 30-year-old’s last international call-up coming in 2010 when he played against England in a Twenty20 international.
“The addition of Yasir to our squad emphasises our determination to progress in the Friends Life t20 tournament and we are delighted to have him on board,” said Watkinson. “Our squad doesn’t have the depth we have been accustomed to and Yasir brings experience and skill to fulfil this important role for us.”
