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Worcestershire CCC announced the signing of Pakistan’s 27 year old all rounder, Abdul Razzaq, as a replacement overseas player for the remainder of the 2007 season following the return of Phil Jaques and Doug Bollinger to Australia for their ‘A’ team tour of Pakistan.

Abdul Razzaq arrived in Worcester on Sunday and will join the squad for training today before the team travel to Canterbury for the LVCC match against Kent starting on Tuesday. He has played 46 Test Matches and 231 ODI’s for his Country having made his debut in 1996 against Zimbabwe in Lahore. He has previously played county cricket for Middlesex in 2002 and 2003.

Chief Executive, Mark Newton, says “It has been very difficult to find quality replacement overseas players because of the forthcoming Twenty20 Cup World Championships and Abdul’s availability has come at just the right time. He has scored over 6,500 runs and taken nearly 350 wickets at international level and will certainly give us the quality and experience we need during the last few weeks of the season, particularly in the Natwest Pro40 competition. We have received clearance from the Pakistan Cricket Board but still need to complete the registration procedures with the ECB.”

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Essex has agreed a three-year deal with Leicestershire fast bowler David Masters up until the end of the 2010 season.

The 29-year-old began his first-class career with Kent in 2000 before joining Leicestershire for the 2003 season.

Masters has taken 229 first-class wickets at an average of 31.71 as well as claiming 71 one-day wickets and 30 Twenty20 Cup victims.

Masters told the Essex CCC website (www.essexcricket.org.uk): “I’m very excited about the prospect of playing for Essex - it’s a massive club. My Dad (former Kent player Kevin Masters) said it’s a great place to play cricket, and always wanted to play here but never got the opportunity, so it’s going to be good for me to get that chance.

“It’s always hard coming to a new county. I’ll probably need a little bit of time to get into it but I’m pretty sure I’ll do well. I know my game now and I’m at my peak so I think Essex have got me at the perfect time of my career.”

Essex Chief Executive David East told the Essex CCC website: “Signing a quality opening bowler was an absolute priority for us for 2008 and I am delighted that we have been able to conclude our deal with David at this stage of the season. We have got some terrific young bowlers coming through our system, but David offers us the great combination of ability and experience straight away. I am sure he will do very well at Essex”

Essex Captain Mark Pettini told the Essex CCC website of his delight at the Club’s two recent signings (Masters and Chris Wright from Middlesex)

“We identified last month some guys who we wanted to sign for next season and David was one of those (to follow Chris Wright who signed from Middlesex last week). Our particular niche was in getting an opening bowler or two so we are very pleased that he decided to sign with us.

“We wanted to sort our squad out for next year as soon as possible. Rather than spend the winter trying to sign players we wanted to spend it planning with what we knew we already had. With that in mind we wanted to move sooner rather than later and David also felt the same in that he wanted to sort out his future as soon as possible, so it’s good for both parties.

“I faced him here at Chelmsford last year and I’ve seen his record so I know what he can offer us as a bowler. I’m very happy to welcome him into the side.”

David Masters Factfile
Born: 22 April 1978
Birthplace: Chatham, Kent
Major teams: Kent, Leicestershire
Role: Right-hand bat/Right medium-fast
First-class career: 86 matches, 1088 runs @ 13.10/229 wickets @ 31.71
Best Bowling (first-class): 6-27 for Kent v Durham (Tunbridge Wells, 2000)
Best Batting (first-class): 119 for Leicestershire v Sussex (Hove, 2003)

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Essex County Cricket Club has made the following changes to its playing structure:

Mark Pettini – First Team Captain
James Foster – First Team Vice-Captain
Paul Grayson – First Team Coach
John Childs – Second Team Coach (also retaining role of Academy Director)

Essex Chief Executive David East explained the re-structure:
“The Cricket Committee discussed the captaincy and the structure of our coaching squads at length at a meeting on Monday June 25 and reached the conclusion that we strongly believed Mark Pettini had demonstrated that he had the ability and the will and drive to take the side forward. As a result we made that recommendation to the General Committee – which is where the final decision resides – which was endorsed at a meeting yesterday (Wednesday July 4). As of now, Mark Pettini becomes our First-Team Captain, the Vice-Captain will become James Foster and Ronnie Irani will remain in the figurehead position of Club Captain for the remainder of this season. As of 2008, following the departure of Ronnie Irani, Mark will take over as Captain of the Club.

“In addition, Paul Grayson is going to move from his responsibilities with the second team to become First Team Coach. John Childs is going to have a dual role of Second Team Coach and Academy Director. Graham Gooch’s position remains unchanged as Batting Coach.”

Mark Pettini issued the following statement:
“It’s been quite nice over the last month or so to have had some time to ease my way into the job (since previous Captain Ronnie Irani stopped playing). Now that it’s official I have the second half of the season to really get stuck into the job and hopefully set myself up for next year.

“Captaincy is not something I’ve thought about much over the last few years – I’ve just been trying to cement my place in the side – but now that chance has been given to me there are certainly some great names that I’ll be following.

“I’m confident that I will be up to the task. Everyone has doubts when they start doing something new – particularly something as big as the captaincy – but we’ve achieved some really great results over the last few weeks. There was a period where we won five games in a row with me in charge recently so that gave me a lot of confidence in terms of thinking that I was able to do the captaincy.”

David East on Mark Pettini’s appointment as First Team Captain:
“Obviously upon Ronnie Irani’s retirement it was evident that we needed to make some decisions in terms of going forward. Mark Pettini has been doing an excellent job when deputising for Ronnie, initially through injury, but now following his retirement.”

David East on Paul Grayson’s appointment as First Team Coach:
“He was certainly the choice of the senior players because he is a very popular member of the dressing room. Everyone has been very impressed in terms of the support he has given to the side when he’s been available to do so. When the situation arose that Ronnie Irani had to retire through injury and the Committee made a decision that Mark Pettini should take over Mark was then very keen that Paul should support him in this role.”

Paul Grayson on his new position:
“My new role is First Team Coach to work with our new Captain Mark Pettini. When Ronnie Irani was in charge he didn’t really need a regular coach all the time – we always shared it between myself and Graham Gooch – but now that Mark’s got the job he feels that he wants someone with him all the time and I’m delighted to take that role. Ronnie has done a magnificent job in leading the side over the last few years so I hope that myself and Mark can now bring the County further success in the years to come.”

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