Sam Whiteman signs season-long deal with Northamptonshire
Jan 17, 2023
Northamptonshire [UK], January 17 : Sam Whiteman, the opening batter for Western Australia, has signed a season-long contract with Northamptonshire for the 2023 summer.
Whiteman will be available for the County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup after leading his state to their 16th Sheffield Shield victory in the 2021-22 season. Despite possessing a UK passport due to his Doncaster, Yorkshire, birth, he will be listed as an overseas signing.
The 30-year-old has 4,652 first-class runs with 10 centuries at an average of 37.90. He presently has 390 runs at 43.33 in the current season, which Western Australia is leading, having scored a career-high 193 runs against South Australia in November.
Whiteman's performance in white-ball cricket has been fairly mediocre, with averages of 23.51 and 17.55 in List A and T20, respectively, despite his participation in the Big Bash League's successful Perth Scorchers team and current affiliation with Sydney Thunder.
Despite having competed for Australia at the "A" team and Under-19 levels, he has not yet represented his country. The left-hander will experience professional cricket for the first time under the English system this summer.
Speaking on his deal with the Division One county, Whiteman said, "I'm really excited to have signed with Northamptonshire for the 2023 season. It's always been an ambition of mine to play first-class cricket in the UK so to get that opportunity for a large chunk of the campaign is really pleasing. I'm looking forward to joining up with my new teammates in April."
As Northants looks to improve on their sixth-place position in the County Championship and second-from-last result in Group B of the Royal London Cup last year, head coach John Sadler was thrilled with Whiteman's signing.
"Sam is highly recommended and is someone we've watched closely in recent times. I'm very confident that not only will he score plenty of runs, he'll add value to us as a group in many ways both on and off the field." Sadler said speaking to the club website.
Northamptonshire's captain Luke Procter reacted to the new signing and said, "I'm really looking forward to having Sam with us this season. He's a quality bat but he's also got that leadership experience with WA, they're flying in the Shield so far so I'm sure he'll bring a lot of value on and off the field too."
