Northamptonshire all-rounder William Thomas will play for Old Grey Cricket Club during the 2017-18 Eastern Province Cricket premier league.
He is the son of former England cricketer Greg Thomas, who played five Tests and three ODIs in the late 1980s.
Thomas junior has represented Northamptonshire’s under-23 and second XI – and enjoyed a standout 2017 season for Brixworth Cricket Club in the Northamptonshire Cricket League’s premier league.
“It is wonderful to have English club cricketers coming out to South Africa to play cricket. In the 1980s and 90s, the Port Elizabeth clubs had a number of overseas players from Northamptonshire playing league cricket,” former Proteas batsman and current Old Grey Cricket Club chairman Dave Callaghan told Club Cricket SA.
“Overseas players certainly lift the standard of club cricket – and assist with the development of the game. We are very happy to have William with us this season.”
Meanwhile, Port Elizabeth Cricket Club have secured the services of Warwickshire batsman Andy Umeed.
Umeed was a relatively regular feature for Warwickshire in division one of the 2017 County Championship – and recorded the second slowest century in Championship history in June.
The 21-year-old right-hander’s patient 113 against Lancashire at Edgbaston in Birmingham, indeed, spanned all of 393 deliveries and 494 minutes.
The Glasgow-born Umeed kept illustrious company at Warwickshire, opening the batting in an XI that included former England Test cricketers Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Tim Ambrose. He has played first-class, but not ODI cricket, for Scotland.