Nottinghamshire sign India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for second half of season

The 32-year-old will take over from Australia's James Pattinson as the county's overseas player

Nottinghamshire have announced that Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will join the County Championship Division One side for the second half of the season.

The 32-year-old will take over from James Pattinson as the county's overseas player and the off-spinning allrounder, who played four matches in 2017 for Worcestershire, is likely to feature in six of Notts' final seven red-ball matches.

Ashwin, who has taken 342 wickets in Test match cricket and is India's fourth-highest wicket-taker of all time in the format, will make his debut at Trent Bridge against Essex on Sunday, June 30 before further matches against Somerset and Surrey.

"I'm really looking forward to joining up with Nottinghamshire, to playing cricket at an iconic venue like Trent Bridge and hopefully contributing to some County Championship victories,” said Ashwin.

^{Ravi Ashwin has taken 342 Test wickets for India} 

"I enjoyed my previous stint in England with Worcestershire. It's a good, competitive standard of cricket over there and I can't wait to get started.”

Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell said: "We knew what we wanted to sign and that was a world-class bowler.

"Whether that was a fast or a slow bowler, we were prepared to look at all options.

"As it happens, we've signed a very good spinner, a very experienced spinner and one we hope can contribute with the bat as well.

"We've seen world-class slow bowlers have a huge match-winning effect in county cricket over many years.

^{Ashwin enjoyed a stint at Worcestershire in 2017}

"Ravi certainly has that potential – and we're very much looking forward to welcoming him to the squad and letting him loose on our opposition."

The Chennai-born spinner took 20 wickets at 29.15 for Worcestershire two years ago, including 5-68 against Gloucestershire, as well as notching 214 runs at an average of 42.8.

This year though he will miss the trip with his new county to Scarborough to face Yorkshire due to international commitments with India, but is expected to return to face Kent, Warwickshire and Surrey in the final three matches of the season.

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