By Dave Buxton
February 3 2003

Essex have signed little known Queensland paceman Scott Brant as the second overseas player for the 2003 season. Brant will join Andy Flower, who has also been confirmed to rejoin Essex after a successful 2002.

Essex Sign Aussie Brant

Brant is a left-arm fast bowler and you would say fits the bill of the 'emerging bowling talent' Essex were looking for as their second overseas player for the coming season. He's just 20 years old, has only played 5 first-class matches for his state side in Australia Queensland and being a left-armer, the perfect replacement, perhaps, for Mark Ilott, who released at the end of last season.

The 20 year old was actually born in Harare, but his family emigrated to Australia and he made his first-class debut in 2001.

On the signing, Essex Chief Exec David East said: "We are delighted that Scott will be joining us this year. Although he has only played a limited amount of first-class cricket for Queensland, there is no question that he has great natural ability and will undoubtedly strengthen the Essex bowling attack in Division 1 of both league competitions. He comes highly recommended by many senior figures in the game (Allan Border believed to be one of those) and we wish him every success with the Club in 2003."

Scott Brant himself said: "I am thrilled to be joining Essex this year and really look forward to the opportunity of playing in the intense programme of county cricket. The prospect of working with Graham Gooch and learning from players like Andy Flower and Ronnie Irani was a huge draw and I'm sure I can make a significant contribution. I look forward to meeting up with the players on their pre-season tour in Cape Town in late March".

So far in his short career, he has made a decent start, taking 11 wickets at 20.45 in 5 first-class matches and 10 at 25.10 in 8 one-day games for Queensland and could prove to be a canny signing from Essex.

However, the obvious financial situation that has caused the loss of the Ilford festival and also brought abotu due to the major signings last season which brought great success, have, as David East said it would, mean the books being a little bit uneasy for a while and perhaps the signing of a relative unknown, certainly in England, would point to that rather than a world-class bowler.

Personally, I'd rather see Essex give one of our home-grown youngsters a go rather than sign an overseas one, but Brant will be here for 2003 and Scimitars wish him well and success for the season in Essex. Certainly we need another fast bowler and young and keen, Brant might just be the one. Only time will tell.

As said earlier, Andy Flower has also been confirmed to be re-joining the team for 2003. This is excellent news after such a fantastic season last year and it'll be interesting to see his situation, as Zimbabwe are due to tour here this season. There are hints though on the message board that Flower might retire after the World Cup and so meaning he'll be available for the whole season. There's also the possibility that Mark Waugh will play if and when Flower is unavailable, again, time will tell.

We'll keep you up-to-date with Scott's progress for Queensland in the remaining games in the Australian season here on Scimitars.

To view Scott Brant's profile and stats, click here.

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Date: 3/2/03

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