HALESOWEN Cricket Club have announced the signing of Alexei Kervezee.

The former Worcestershire County Cricket Club batsman arrives at Seth Somers Park having played Birmingham League Cricket for Bromsgrove for the past eleven years.

Alexei, who has played 39 One Day Internationals for Netherlands, will become the new club captain – replacing Richard Brooker, who retired after the club achieved promotion to Division One at the end of the 2017 season.

After making his first class debut for the Netherlands, aged just 15, Alexei has gone on to make 97 first-class and 104 List A appearances for the Netherlands and Worcestershire, amassing over 7,000 runs in the process and adds a massive amount of experience and quality to the Halesowen squad.

Over the past ten years, Alexei has featured in 135 Birmingham League games for Bromsgrove, scoring an impressive 5411 runs at an average of 43.29, whilst hitting 13 centuries and 33 50’s. He has also chipped in with 113 wickets with his off-spin during his time at the Boars.

He said: “I am delighted to have joined Halesowen. It’s a club I have admired from afar for many years – there are fantastic facilities here at the ground which is one of the finest in the Birmingham League and there’s a good group of players here, with an experienced and successful head coach in Richard Cox who I have known from time in the Netherlands squad and before that when we worked together as a youngster.

“I can’t wait to get started now and look to help the whole club achieve something special during the 2018 season and beyond.”

Club chairman Richard Evans added: “Replacing the retiring Richard Brooker was never going to be an easy task, and the club has managed to attract the very highest calibre of player in Alexei. The signing and appointment of Alexei as club captain hopefully signals our ambition to continue to move forward as a club. It’s great to have him on board, and I’m already looking forward to watching him bat at Seth Somers Park next season.”