Northamptonshire have signed Surrey all-rounder Matthew Spriegel.
The middle order batsman, who also bowls off-spin, has put pen to paper on a two-year contract as the County seek strengthen their limited overs resources.
Spriegel has featured heavily for his home county in the one-day formats although his four-day appearances have been more limited.
And chief executive David Smith believes he will add some much needed depth to the club’s playing squad.
He said: “We are delighted that Matthew had decided to join Northants he is exactly the type of multi-dimensional cricketer we have been looking to attract to the club and will give us some excellent options with both bat and ball in the short and longer form of the game.
“It is no secret that our white ball cricket performances over the last 18 months have fallen below both the club and supporters’ expectations and I am sure Matthew will assist us in our efforts to re-establish a competitive team in this form of the game.”
Northants head coach David Ripley said: “We are delighted that Matthew had decided to join Northants, as he is exactly the type of multi-dimensional cricketer we have been looking to attract to the club.
“Matthew has shown a real hunger to improve himself in all formats and will give us some excellent options with both bat and ball in the short and longer form of the game.”
Spriegel, who is 25, played in every match of Surrey’s 2011 title winning CB40 campaign, scoring 424 runs at an average of 53 and taking 11 wickets at just over 27.
“I’ve played two championship games here for the last two years and I need to be playing four-day cricket, and that’s is something Northants have offered me,” Spriegel told surreycricket.com.
“They’re a club keen to go places and looking to improve their white-ball cricket as well. And they’ve really impressed me with the way they’ve gone about things since I started speaking to them.”
Spriegel first represented Surrey at under-nine level and worked his way through every age group before making his championship debut against Somerset at Whitgift, his old school, in 2008.
That year he also earned List A and Twenty20 bows, the first of 61 and 45 respective format appearances. However, he has played in only 29 first-class games.
The County, who are in the process of restructuring their squad, are hoping to announce a further signing in the next few weeks.
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