Steelbacks complete Blast squad as they sign South African batter Matthew Breetzke

The 25-year-old from Port Elizabeth is the club's second overseas recruit for the Blast, joining Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza in the Wantage Road ranks.

Breetzke, who plays his domestic cricket for Eastern Province, has played three T20 internationals for South Africa, with the most recent being against India in December, and has 80 domestic T20 matches under his belt.

He has scored more than 2,000 runs in T20s, with a top score of 80, an average of 29.54 and a strike-rate of 131.82.

Breetzke has scored 13 T0 half-centuries in is career to date, and recently finished as the top run-scorer in the 2024 CSA T20 Challenge, hitting 467 runs at an average of 35.92 to edge out former Northants man Ryan Rickelton at the top of the charts.

"I am very excited to join the Steelbacks for the upcoming Vitality Blast and really grateful for the opportunity," said Breetzke.

"I hope to contribute a lot on and off the field during my time at the club."

With the T20 World Cup taking place this summer from the beginning of June, options for overseas players were more limited than usual, but Northants head coach John Sadler believes Northants have got themselves a gem in Breetzke.

"Matt is a very capable batter who will bring power, experience and some real determination to the side," said Sadler.

"We identified what we wanted to achieve with our overseas signings this year and he fits the profile of exactly the type of player that we wanted to bring in as our second overseas.

"He has been excellent over the last couple of seasons domestically and we've been really impressed so we can't wait to see him this summer."

The Steelbacks, who have also signed former England all-rounder Ravi Bopara for the T20 campaign, are due to start their Blast season on May 30 when they host Derbyshire Falcons at the County Ground.