Beyers Swanepoel: South African all-rounder joins Kent
- Published
Uncapped all-rounder Beyers Swanepoel has yet to play county cricket
South African all-rounder Beyers Swanepoel is to join Kent from 1 May after Xavier Bartlett's deal to join was rejected by Cricket Australia.
Centrally-contracted Bartlett's No Objection Certificate (NOC) has been withdrawn by Australia after a busy winter playing in his homeland.
Swanepoel, 25, has scored more than 1,000 runs and taken 127 wickets in his 33 first-class matches for Free State.
The fast bowler helped Sunrisers Eastern Cape win this year's SA20.
He will be available for all three formats of the game until the end of the 2024 season, which will be his first in England.
"We looked very carefully at him earlier in the year but at that stage he hadn't played the required games to qualify as a viable overseas signing for us," said Kent director of cricket Simon Cook.
"He's a genuine all-rounder who provides extra batting depth for us across all formats - a gap that we've looked to fill with our overseas players this year."
Cook added that Bartlett may still be available for the T20 Blast.