Neser, who was due to play the first six rounds of Championship fixtures, was an unlikely star of Australia‘s recent 4-1 Ashes series victory over England. He was initially left out of their squad for the first Test before he was drafted in as cover for the injured Josh Hazlewood and went on to take 15 wickets across three Tests, including a maiden five-wicket haul at the Gabba.
His appearances in the series earned him an upgrade to a central contract and mean that he will be in contention for Australia’s busy upcoming run of Test fixtures, starting with a home series against Bangladesh in August. Cricket Australia are keen to manage his workload as a result, and have opted to pull him out of his stint at Hampshire.
The club have instead signed Seales, the 24-year-old West Indies fast bowler, as a replacement. Seales has previously played 10 Championship matches for Sussex over the past two seasons, and was available after going unsold at the recent Pakistan Super League auction.
“We’re obviously disappointed not to have Michael Neser with us this summer, but it opens the door to an exciting new addition,” Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket, said. “Jayden Seales is a bowler with pace and skill, and most importantly, the appetite to run in hard and take the game on.”
Hampshire narrowly avoided relegation to Division Two last summer and will start this season against Essex on April 3. They have reinforced their batting line-up by signing Jake Lehmann, who will use his British passport to play as a local player, while Kyle Abbott will return alongside Seales in their two overseas slots.