The New Zealander, uncapped at international level but a regular for Wellington, brings much-needed seam bowling to the county and is set to be available for the entirety of the summer
Worcestershire have signed Nathan Smith for the entirety of the 2024 season.
The New Zealander, uncapped at international level but a regular for Wellington, brings much-needed seam bowling to the county ahead of their return to Division One of the County Championship.
Alan Richardson, Ashley Giles and Brett D'Oliveira oversaw an unlikely promotion last summer, while also seeing five homegrown players – Dillon Pennington, Jack Haynes, Josh Tongue, Ben Cox and Pat Brown – announce their departures for pastures new, while Mitchell Stanley was released.
Those exits left a hole of four seamers to fill, with Tom Taylor previously added from Northamptonshire in September. Rob Jones and Ethan Brookes have separately joined from Lancashire and Warwickshire, respectively.
The Cricketer also reported at the time that they were looking to fill some of the fast-bowling void with an overseas recruit.
Smith joins Worcestershire for the whole of the 2024 campaign (Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)
Smith is that man, his arrival supported by glowing references from recent Worcestershire import Logan van Beek, while he is also believed to be close to Michael Bracewell, the New Zealand allrounder who was at New Road for the T20 Blast until suffering an Achilles injury.
At 25, he joins Worcestershire on the back of a domestic summer in New Zealand that has so far seen him take 21 wickets in the Plunket Shield at 15.19 apiece. Only Scott Kuggeleijn has taken more in the competition. Overall, he has 105 first-class wickets at 27.65 in his career to date.
Smith also provides useful batting in the lower order, which was a feature of Worcestershire's success in 2023, with Matthew Waite and Joe Leach in particular handy options.
He will be something of a rarity on the circuit these days as an all-format, all-summer overseas player, signed up for the County Championship, T20 Blast and One-Day Cup. He joins Pakistan leggie Usama Mir in the overseas ranks, with Mir reenlisted for the Blast after success in 2023.
One county cricketer, who has played against Smith in club cricket – he spent two summers playing for Radlett in Hertfordshire – got in touch with The Cricketer simply to call him "a gun".
"Whacks it and bowls quick," he said.
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