Doug Bracewell re-joins promotion-chasing Northants for County Championship run-in

Bracewell spent some time with the county in 2018, playing red-ball cricket with the team last year. He will be available for all three games against Leicestershire, Durham and Gloucestershire

Northamptonshire have signed New Zealand allrounder Doug Bracewell for the final three County Championship matches of the season.

Northants, who began the season slowly, have recovered well since Adam Rossington took over the captaincy from Alex Wakely in June. At one stage, the Wantage Road outfit had lost two and drawn three of their opening five games.

Bracewell, who took 11 wickets at 27.63 and scored 113 runs in six innings for Northants last season in his first stint with the county, joins Gareth Berg in arriving at the club, having joined on loan from Hampshire.

“I think Doug’s a great signing for us for the last three games and our promotion push,” Rossington said. “He brings high quality skill with both bat and ball which we’ve seen from him before in a Northants shirt.”

Head coach David Ripley admitted that the New Zealander had not been the club’s first choice, but that his skillset made it an easy decision once other options failed to materialise.

“Initially we’d spoken with Kemar Roach to add some more variety and a bit of express pace to our attack, but once that fell down we were keen to get someone of high all-round quality,” he added.

“Being able to have Doug around for those three games is something we couldn’t really resist when we got a whiff he was interested in filling that void for us.” said Ripley.

In 27 Tests, the seamer has taken 72 wickets, while he has made two centuries in his first-class career.

“I got the buzz last week from Rips and I’m really excited to come back and hopefully help the lads get promoted to the top div,” Bracewell said.

“I’m familiar with the bunch of the lads that are here and I really enjoyed my time here last year even though it was only three or four games. It always helps being in a familiar team with a little taste last year, I’m ready to hit the ground running.”

Bracewell will be available for all three games against Leicestershire, Durham and Gloucestershire.