Bangladeshi leg-spinner Rishad Hossain will return to the Hobart Hurricanes for a second Big Bash season, after finishing as the club’s leading wicket-taker last summer.
The signing pairs Hossain with Australian white-ball bowler Adam Zampa in the Hurricanes’ spin attack for BBL|16.
In his debut season, Hossain took 15 wickets from 12 matches at an average of 20.86 and an economy rate of 7.82, with best figures of 3-26.
He was named the Hurricanes’ BBL Player of the Year at the end of the season.
Hurricanes high performance general manager Salliann Beams said Hossain’s determination to come back to Hobart played a significant role in getting the deal done.
“Rishad made it really clear to us that he loved his time in Hobart last season and wanted to come back and that certainly meant a lot to us,” she said.
“Our list had taken a slightly different shape with the addition of Adam Zampa, but when a player of Rishad’s quality is so determined to return to the Hurricanes, we wanted to explore every opportunity to make that happen.”
Beams said the club now had “two high-quality leg-spinners who bring different strengths”.
“Adam has been one of the outstanding white-ball bowlers in world cricket for a long period of time, while we saw last summer just how dangerous Rishad can be through the middle overs,” she said.
“To have both of them as part of our squad gives us enormous flexibility and adds another dimension to our bowling attack.”
The Hurricanes first picked Hossain in the BBL|14 draft, but Bangladesh Premier League commitments prevented him from joining the squad that season.
He made his Big Bash debut last summer and played every game.
Earlier this month, the Hurricanes re-signed Tasmanian players Tim Ward, Marcus Bean and Iain Carlisle on one-year extensions and all-rounder Will Prestwidge for two seasons.
All four are part of the Tasmanian Tigers program.
The Hurricanes’ BBL|16 squad also includes Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Shai Hope, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Jake Weatherald and Beau Webster.
The Hurricanes play their first match of BBL16 against the Brisbane Heat at Ninja Stadium in Bellerive on December 17.
