Colin Ingram will represent the Adelaide Strikers in the 2017/18 edition of the BBL
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
The Adelaide Strikers have bolstered their batting line-up by signing former South Africa batsman Colin Ingram for the 2017/18 season of the Big Bash League (BBL).
Ingram has taken the county scene in the United Kingdom by storm since he gave up his international career in order to sign a Kolpak deal with Glamorgan.
The 32-year-old, who represented South Africa in 31 ODIs and nine Twenty20 Internationals, enjoyed a lot of success with the bat in last year’s Natwest T20 Blast as he was the second-highest scorer in the tournament with 502 runs, which included a century and four fifties, at an average of 41.83 in 14 matches.
He has continued to excel in this year’s edition of the competition as he has accumulated 451 runs, which includes two hundreds and a half-century, at an average of 50.11 in 13 games.
Given his Twenty20 record with Glamorgan since 2016, Strikers coach Jason Gillespie was thrilled to have secured the services of the Port Elizabeth native.
“The decision was made that we’d look over the world of an overseas batsman and we found a quality one in Colin,” Gillespie said. “He’s a guy who can bat in the top four and who can make the crowd excited.
“He gives it a whack … he has a lot of T20 experience and adds a great deal to our batting line-up. I know that he’s absolutely thrilled and he’s really committed and really excited to be linking up with us.”
Cricket Australia have reported that the Strikers are keeping an eye on Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan as he could be the perfect replacement for New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, who played for the Strikers in the 2016/17 edition of the BBL.
Rashid is currently representing the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and has taken seven wickets in eight matches at an average of 25.28.
In last season’s BBL, the Strikers finished in sixth place after winning just three out of the eight games they played.