Surrey Sign Kartik; Chopra Extends Bears Contract

Surrey Sign Kartik; Chopra Extends Bears Contract

Kartik has taken 319 wickets during his time in county cricket.

©Action Images

Surrey have completed the signing of India and former Somerset spinner Murali Kartik on a season-long deal.

The 35 year-old left Somerset at the end of last year after failing to agree a new contract and played his last match for them in the Champions League T20.

He is likely to play a key role in Surrey's first title challenge for many years after another Indian left-arm spinner, Pragyan Ojha, helped them to earn promotion at the end of last year. He replaces Chris Schofield in Surrey's spin line-up from 2011 and will play a valuable role in mentoring the club's young spin duo of Zafar Ansari and Freddie van den Bergh.

Surrey Director of Cricket, Chris Adams, said, "Murali Kartik is a proven wicket taker in English conditions and will add another dimension to our bowling attack. As shown with the signing of Pragyan Ojha for the final part of the 2011 season, a ‘mystery’ spinner can often make a major difference to the outcome of a campaign. Having someone of Kartik’s quality on board for the entirety of next season will be a great boost.”

Kartik himself added, "I am very happy to be signing for Surrey for next season. They are one of the biggest domestic sides in the world game and I hugely look forward to playing my cricket at an iconic ground like The Oval.”

In other news, the club have extended the contract of batsman Tom Maynard by one year until the end of the 2014 season.

Other County News In Brief:
Durham head coach Geoff Cook says that the ECB have made positive improvements to the 2012 fixture list, especially in making the Twenty20 competition more separate from Championship. He also confirmed that Paul Collingwood would be playing Twenty20 cricket in South Africa following his stint in the Big Bash.

Meanwhile, Essex coach Paul Grayson has backed the proposed move from 40-over to 50-over cricket from 2014 as proposed in the Morgan report.

Somerset are looking at playing a CB40 game at Bath after confirming that all their Twenty20 matches would be played at Taunton in 2012.

Kent have announced that scoreboard operator George Davison has passed away. He had manned the scoreboard at Canterbury, along with his wife for the past 33 years. The club’s chief executive Jamie Clifford, who confirmed that the Kent CCC flag will fly at half-mast in his memory this week, said, “Our thoughts are with Doreen and her family at what must be a very difficult time.”

The club also confirmed that they have a six-man shortlist for the position of head coach, but would not comment on whether former South Africa coach Graham Ford was among them.

Warwickshire opener Varun Chopra has signed a new contract with Warwickshire which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2014 season.

Nottinghamshire all-rounder Samit Patel has withdrawn from the IPL auction in order to concentrate on his England career.

© Cricket World 2011