Patience pays off for Sadler as Aussie influence grows at Northants
Patience has paid off for Northants head coach John Sadler with this week's double swoop for Australian pace bowlers Chris Tremain and Lance Morris.
Sadler and officials at Wantage Road had been working for most of the winter on their overseas recruitment, and left it late to ensure they got their men for the opening six County Championship games of the campaign.
And the capture of the pair means there is going to be a very, very strong Australian influence at the County Ground this summer.
For the Vitality Blast they have once again secured the services of Chris Lynn, who was one of the superstars of the competition last summer, scoring more than 550 runs, including two centuries.
Northants have also landed Australian fast bowler AJ Tye for the 20-over tournament, and he arrives fresh from claiming a fourth Big Bash League crown with Perth Scorchers.
With the red ball recruitment, the services of opening batter Sam Whiteman were secured some time ago, and he arrived in Northampton this week off the back of skippering Western Australia to a second successive Sheffield Shield success last month.
And the Australian connections continued to some this week, with the short-term signings of Tremain and Morris.
Tremain plays for New South Wales and has played four One Day Internationals his country, while Morris is seen as one of the bright young things of Australian cricket.
The 24-year-old, who was selected in the Aussie Test squad for their series with the West Indies last December, was recently named Australia's young player of the year.
A team-mate of Whiteman's at WA, Morris regularly sends down 'rockets' at more than 90mph.
Tremain has already arrived at the County Ground and will be making his debut in Thursday's Championship Division One clash against Kent at Canterbury, before then playing in home games against Middlesex and Hampshire.
Morris will arrive in the UK at the end of April, and will be available for the May trips to Somerset and Hampshire that sandwich a home date with Nottinghamshire.
And Sadler and bowling coach Chris Liddle are delighted to have landed to pace pair.
On Morris, Liddle said: “It’s great that we have Lance with us for a few games.
"He possesses express pace and has been highly talked about.
"I’m looking forward to seeing him charging in wearing a Northamptonshire shirt.”
And the signing of Tremain to spearhead the County's attack has delighted Sadler,
“We’re really pleased to have Chris joining us for the first few games,” said the head coach.
“He’s got a great skillset and we like his approach to the game.
"Sam Whiteman rates him highly as well which is always a good sign to have that respect from your opposition.”
The signings mean that Sadler has a very strong seam attack to pick from in the opening couple of months, with the Aussies joining forces with Ben Sanderson, Jack White, Gareth Berg, Tom Taylor and James Sales.