Middlesex sign Jason Behrendorff as replacement for Shaheen Shah Afridi

The county have also brought in Chris Green as cover for Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who will miss part of the T20 Blast while on international duty with Afghanistan

Middlesex have added Australians Jason Behrendorff and Chris Green to their ranks for the T20 Blast.

Behrendorff replaces fellow left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was expected to return for the latter games in the county's Blast group stage campaign but will now not do so, with his availability limited by international commitments for Pakistan.

Off-spinning allrounder Green, who also featured last season for Middlesex, has signed up for a second spell at Lord's as partial cover for Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

"With Shaheen heavily committed to international duty with Pakistan we needed to bring a quality seamer into the attack for our Blast campaign, and in Jason we have a left-arm seamer of proven international class," said Alan Coleman, Middlesex's head of men's performance cricket.

"With Mujeeb also leaving on international duty, we were keen to ensure that we were covered in the spin department, and we all know what Greeny is capable of in the short form of the game. He fit in brilliantly last summer and can play a match-winning role for us, so we're really looking forward to welcoming him back into the dressing room.

^{Green will replace Mujeeb for part of the Blast in early June (Chris Hyde/Getty Images)}

"With more international cricket now being played it is becoming increasingly more difficult to secure the long-term availability of international players of the quality that you need over an extended period of time, and we are delighted that we've been able to secure players of the quality of Jason and Chris in the periods that we need them for."

Mujeeb, the Afghanistan spinner will start the competition with Middlesex before leaving in early June while he represents his country in an ODI series against Zimbabwe. He is set to return to Middlesex thereafter for the remainder of their campaign.

Behrendorff is set to be available for Middlesex's whole tournament, once his Indian Premier League commitments come to an end with Royal Challengers Bangalore.

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