T20 Blast: Yorkshire sign Mark Stoneman on loan after Malan's ODI call-up
Jun 26, 2021
Yorkshire [UK], June 26 : Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) on Saturday confirmed the signing of Mark Stoneman on loan for the T20 Blast following Dawid Malan's call-up in the England squad for ODIs against Sri Lanka.
The former England Test match opener will play five of the next six T20 games, starting on Saturday against Northants Steelbacks.
The left-hander has scored 1,284 runs in T20 cricket so far in his career but has found opportunities in the format hard to come by at Surrey.
Following the news on Friday that Malan had been called up to England's ODI squad, the Yorkshire Vikings were set to be short of five players to England, whilst also missing two top-order batsmen to injury.
"With the number of players we are now missing due to England commitments and injury, we felt we needed to add a top order batsmen to our squad for the latter stages of the group," said coach Andrew Gale in a statement.
"We have made a great start to this year's Vitality Blast and seen some great contributions from some of our younger players, but feel like the addition of an experienced batsman at the top of the order is important to help keep up the momentum.
"Mark Stoneman certainly fits the bill for what we were looking for; an experienced player who will fit in at the top of the order. His quality is well known and we are looking forward to welcoming him into the squad," he added.
Malan was called up after England wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler was ruled out of the remainder of the T20I and ODIs against Sri Lanka.
Buttler sustained a right calf injury in England's first T20I victory at Sophia Gardens on Wednesday.
