Tuesday 29 October 2019 13:21, UK
Surrey have signed former South Africa batsman Hashim Amla as a Kolpak player on a two-year deal.
Amla - who previously played for Surrey as an overseas player in 2013 and 2014 - retired from international cricket in August having amassed 18,672 runs across all three formats for the Proteas since debuting in 2004.
The 36-year-old struck 9,282 runs and 28 hundreds 124 Test matches - a tally only topped by Jacques Kallis - as well as 8,113 runs and 27 hundreds in 181 one-day internationals, while he also made 1,277 runs in 44 T20Is.
Amla will link up with former Proteas team-mate Morne Morkel at The Oval, a ground where he hit a career-best 311 not out against England in 2012.
"Surrey are one of the most established and accomplished cricket clubs in the world and I am very excited to be joining them again while also not forgetting the opportunity to play alongside my good friend Morne Morkel again," said Amla.
"I was part of the Surrey team in 2013 and 2014 and thoroughly enjoyed myself during those stints, so to rekindle that relationship for a longer period is something that excites me."
Surrey director of cricket Alex Stewart said: "With several of our players now in or around the international setup, the opportunity to bring Hashim back to Surrey was too good to ignore.
"His record speaks for itself and we know from his previous spells here that he will be an excellent resource for all of our players to learn from both on and off the field."
Surrey have been busy in the transfer market over the last few weeks, including signing Australia seamer Michael Neser as their overseas player for the first half of the 2020 Specsavers County Championship season.
The Londoners have also added Neser's countryman D'Arcy Short as well as Pakistan's Shadab Khan as their overseas imports for the Vitality Blast.
England left-arm seamer Reece Topley has signed a two-year white-ball deal after leaving Sussex and will also be considered for red-ball cricket on a match-by-match basis.
