The Yorkshire County Cricket Club can confirm the signing of Mark Stoneman on loan for the Vitality Blast.
The former England Test Match opener will play five of the next six T20 games, starting tonight against Northants Steelbacks. The left hander has scored 1,284 runs in T20 cricket so far in his career, but has found opportunities in the format hard to come by at Surrey.
Following the news yesterday that Dawid Malan had been called up to England’s One Day International squad, the Yorkshire Vikings were set to be short of five players to England, whilst also missing two top-order batsmen to injury.
First XI Coach Andrew Gale said: “With the number of players we are now missing due to England commitments and injury, we felt we needed to add a top order batsmen to our squad for the latter stages of the group. We have made a great start to this year’s Vitality Blast and seen some great contributions from some of our younger players, but feel like the addition of an experienced batsman at the top of the order is important to help keep up the momentum.
“Mark Stoneman certainly fits the bill for what we were looking for; an experienced player who will fit in at the top of the order. His quality is well known and we are looking forward to welcoming him into the squad.”
Stoneman is available for five of the final six group games, missing the Notts Outlaws game on Friday 9 July as he returns to Surrey to prepare for their LV= Insurance County Championship game against Somerset that starts on Sunday 11 July.
