Batting options next on agenda for Yorkshire after snapping up Duanne Olivier

PACE ATTACK: Duanne Olivier of South Africa sends down a delivery in the second Test against Pakistan at Newlands in Cape Town. Picture: Shaun Roy/Getty Images

The club may look to enlist a specialist overseas after signing Olivier on a three-year Kolpak deal, which means that he is not regarded as an overseas player.

Kolpak deals allow sportsmen from countries with associate trade agreements with the European Union to be afforded the same right to free movement as EU citizens, circumnavigating the usual overseas criteria.

“We wanted to get the Duanne Olivier deal over the line before we seriously looked at the batting situation,” said Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon.

“That’s a matter that we’re discussing at the minute, as to whether we sign an overseas batsman.”

Although the prospect of recruiting an overseas batsman is attractive it has not always worked in recent times (witness Che Pujara last summer), while there is the financial element to consider. Yorkshire also want to give as many chances as possible to their young players and are further weighing up whether to sign a T20 overseas player.

While those discussions continue Moxon is confident that, in Olivier, they have a man capable of helping them challenge on all fronts.

“Duanne gives us that extra dimension as a wicket-taking bowler,” he said. “I think he’s going to be a brilliant signing and he’s massively committed to coming over here and doing well for Yorkshire.”

Yorkshire director of cricket, Martyn Moxon. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

Olivier, 26, has had to forgo the right to play international cricket for South Africa to take up the contract, the latest in a string of players who have decided that their best opportunities lie outside a homeland that operates a selection quota system.

“It gives us more strength in depth,” added Moxon. “When Matthew Fisher went down with a stress fracture of the back, and then Dave Willey had a similar kind of stress reaction towards the end of last season, it just rang a few alarm bells for us.

“Ben Coad has had injury problems, Matthew Waite has had a serious ankle injury, Jared Warner has had a stress fracture of the back, and so we took the decision that we need to manage the young bowlers carefully.

“Yes, we want them to get opportunities, but at the same time we don’t feel that their bodies are yet ready for us to rely on them day-in, day-out, hence why we’ve gone for Duanne.”

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