22 May 2010

Styris to play for Essex

5:10 am on 22 May 2010

The New Zealand cricket allrounder Scott Styris has signed to play for English County Essex in the English Twenty20 competition.

Styris was signed after the county's deal with Yusuf Patahan of India fell through.

Styris will not be available to Essex for the entire competition - he'll miss the first 10 days in June and his contract only runs to the end of the group stage, which ends on July 18th.

However, an option remains to extend Styris's contract for the quarter-final stage.

The 34-year-old Styris is currently with the Black Caps in Florida preparing to play two Twenty20 matches against Sri Lanka this weekend.

He has a great deal of experience in English conditions, with stints at Durham and Middlesex, and is a veteran of domestic Twenty20 cricket, with 1733 runs and 63 wickets to his name.