Australian middle-order batsman Kurtis Patterson has signed a deal to play with the Australian domestic Twenty20 cricket team Perth Scorchers for the next three years, on September 9. He started his career with Sydney Sixers where he played only one game in 2012 and spent 6 summers at Sydney Thunder. He has played 25 matches in six seasons. The 26-year-old played two Test matches for Australia and made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in January this year. He has scored a total of 144 runs under his name in Test matches. Speaking to local media, he said he is really excited to head to a new place and play for a successful club.

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Happy to play with the new team: Patterson

Patterson said he is elated to play with the new team and face fresh challenges with the team. He said he will get an opportunity to learn new things from the new coaches and will get a chance to play on the fast wicket pitch at Optus Stadium. He said these are the two major factors that made him decide to sign the deal with the Scorchers. He revealed that the club has a great future and outstanding culture and is eagerly waiting to be a part of the team. Head coach Adam Voges of the Perth Scorchers said that Patterson had plenty of upside in the shorter format. The coach added that Kurtis is very talented, scored a lot of runs in all the formats over the past few seasons. The coach said that they have identified a weakness in the team and are planning to overcome the challenges faced by the team. He also added that Kurtis is an excellent player and believes he'll take to the Optus Stadium really well with its extra pace and bounce.

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Team line up

The Scorchers team is just left with two spots after Patterson signed in which is expected to be filled up soon with two international players. The team line up for the season 2019-20: Fawad Ahmed, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Cameron Bancroft, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis, Matt Kelly, Mitch Marsh, Joel Paris, Kurtis Patterson, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Sam Whiteman. The Big Bash League's upcoming season will commence from December 17. The first match will be played between Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder to be held at The Gabba, Brisbane. (with inputs from ANI)

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