Faulkner inks county deal with Lancs

Lancashire have confirmed the signing of Australian allrounder James Faulkner that will see the World Cup final's man of the match playing in all formats for the Old Trafford-based side in England this winter.

Faulkner had been widely expected to secure the spot made vacant when Lancashire signing Peter Siddle was called up for the Frank Worrell Trophy and Ashes Test squads.

Lancashire’s coach Ashley Giles said the county was keen to further his development in first-class cricket.

"While he is better known at the moment for his performances in white ball cricket his record in first class cricket is fantastic," Giles said.

"Having James available for all cricket is a real boost for the club and I’m certain all Lancashire cricket fans will be delighted at the prospect of watching him play at Emirates Old Trafford this season.

"When we originally signed Peter (Siddle) we had hoped that we would get him for the majority of our County Championship campaign. When you sign high-quality overseas players there is always an unavoidable risk that you will end up losing them for all or part of the summer.

“Peter is a renowned international performer with a fine pedigree and I am pleased that Cricket Australia have allowed him to play in our first four County Championship matches. It is important that we get off to a good start and his world class experience will add a great amount of quality to our bowling attack.”

Faulkner will join the county in late May after his IPL commitments with Rajasthan Royals are over, and is eager to push his Test case in English conditions.

"Lancashire is a huge county with a fine history in the game and I am looking forward to joining the squad next month," Faulkner said.

"Playing in English conditions will benefit my career and I cannot wait to work with Ashley and the rest of the team.

"Old Trafford is a fantastic, world famous cricket venue and playing my cricket there will put me in good stead for when Australia play two ODIs there in September."

In a recent column for Hobart's Mercury newspaper, the Tasmanian wrote getting back into the Test squad was his chief objective.

"Some people were surprised I did not make the West Indies and Ashes tours, but I had been informed I would most likely miss out due to a lack of longer form cricket," Faulkner wrote.

"So much of the focus and scheduling leading into the World Cup was focused on one-day cricket. Now this is behind us, I can spend more time in whites playing for the Tigers.

"I would like to play Test cricket, that’s the pinnacle, and the path is pretty simple. I will have the opportunity to play more Sheffield Shield games for Tasmania next season — I’ve just got to make sure I do well with bat and ball and hopefully the rest can take care of itself."

Currently in India with the Rajasthan Royals for the Indian Premier League season, Faulkner would be unavailable for county cricket until after the tournament finishes on May 24, but currently has no further winter commitments until a one-day series against England at the end of August.

The deal also fulfils CA National Selector Rod Marsh's cryptic statement when the Test squads were announced.

"James desperately needs some red-ball cricket. It's not his fault that he's not played any red ball cricket, really," Marsh said before revealing CA had a plan in the works.

"He'll be right; he's a hell of a good cricketer. He's a hard man to keep down as we know. We certainly haven't forgotten him, put it that way."

Faulkner, who played the fifth Test of the 2013 Ashes at The Oval, featured in three Shield matches for Tasmania last season scoring 166 runs at 41.5 and taking five wickets at 34.