West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite to play for Yorkshire

West Indies Test opener Kraigg Brathwaite is set to play for English county cricket side Yorkshire for a two-month period.

Brathwaite will be available for Yorkshire's final home match of the season against Warwickshire at Headingley, a venue where the 24-year old right-hander smashed 134 and 95 in West Indies' victory over England in the second Test last week.

He will also play the last County Championship match of the campaign against Essex at Chelmsford.

"It's a bit of a surprise. Initially, coming to England I knew there would be a lot of opportunities and one of my goals was to score as many runs as possible. I wanted to lead the West Indies batting from the top and earn a chance to play some county cricket," Brathwaite told the Yorkshire website.

"Before the second Test I was speaking to my agent and he was telling me that he was talking to Yorkshire's coaching staff. After the game he came back to me telling me he was getting some quality feedback," he said.

"They really wanted me and I was very happy because Yorkshire is a very big club in England and I'm very happy and proud to have been selected by them."

Brathwaite will take Australian southpaw Shaun Marsh's place as the latter will be heading home for the start of the domestic season at home.

"Playing county cricket was always one of my goals and coming over here to play against England for the West Indies was going to get me one step closer, if I did well," he said.

"Many of our past players have played in England and they always say it's the place to develop a better technique and learn more about batting, predominantly because the ball does a lot throughout the day. Playing in England, playing county cricket will help me learn with every game, every day."

Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire's director of cricket, added: "When we found out that Shaun wasn't going to be available for the last two games, we looked at options to replace him.

"At such a late stage and with Kraigg getting the runs he did at Headingley, it all came at the right time. We enquired about his availability and it was pleasing he was keen to play and the West Indies cricket board are keen for him to get more experience playing in England, so it fits well for both parties," he said.

--IANS

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