Ashton Agar joins Northamptonshire ahead of T20 Blast quarter-finals

Ashton Agar has joined Northamptonshire for the Vitality Blast quarter-final against Somerset. He came as a replacement for Sikandar Raza and the Club is eyeing to bring in South Africa opener, Matthew Breetzke. Breetzke is the leading run-scorer in Blast 2024, scoring 460 runs at a strike rate of 153.84. But Head Coach, John Sadler, has revealed that the decision is awaited from Cricket South Africa (CSA).

It is worth noting that, Agar opted for a freelancer role earlier this year. He will be available for the Blast as soon as he completes Global T20 Canada. He will likely make a comeback against the defending champions Somerset at Wantage Road on September 05.

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“Ashton is in, he's booked to come back and he's incredibly excited. He has been over at a tournament in Canada so he's off back home to spend some time with his family, but then he'll be back with us so we're absolutely delighted with that,” Sadler said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“We're hopeful that Matt will be able to get over, but we're not sure how that's going to pan out. We obviously want to get him back because he's been brilliant for us, but we'll see how it unfolds. It's a situation that is out of our and Matt's hands to be honest. I know he's desperate to come back, but he's on the verge of playing for South Africa in all three formats, so that's understandably his main driver,” he added.

Agar was last part of Australia’s Test team during the Test series against South Africa in 2023. Although his selection for the T20 World Cup 2024 raised eyebrows, he was the most economical of the Aussie bowler’s pantheon in the 21-run loss against Afghanistan. The 30-year-old has been part of Warwickshire and Middlesex before joining the Northants in T20 Blast.