Wagner signing is music to our ears
World record holder Neil Wagner will arrive at Headingley for a 10-game stint in the LV= Insurance County Championship boasting an impressive career CV which includes a Division One title with Essex in 2017 when he played the same number of fixtures and struck 31 times.
An aggressive left-arm quick who likes to use the short ball, Wagner was also part of the New Zealand side which won the World Test Championship final against India at Southampton in June 2021.
Born in Pretoria, he played for the South African Academy and even undertook 12th man duties for the full Test team before opting to move to New Zealand in 2008 for greater opportunity. He made his Test debut for the Kiwis in July 2012 in the West Indies.
At time of writing, he was sat on 246 wickets from 59 Tests, with a best of 7-39 in the first innings of a big win over the West Indies at Wellington in December 2017.
In April 2011, whilst playing for Otago against Wellington in New Zealand’s Plunket Shield, he claimed a world-record equalling five wickets in an over. He struck with the first four balls and then with the last to become the fifth bowler to achieve the feat.
He has previously represented Northamptonshire (2014), Lancashire (2016) and Essex (2017-2018).
