Nottinghamshire swoop for Bird

Nottinghamshire have moved quickly to replace injured overseas player Peter Siddle with his Australia team-mate Jackson Bird.

The 29-year-old will arrive at Trent Bridge in time to feature in the first 10 matches of the Specsavers County Championship, but is unlikely to feature in limited-overs cricket, with Dan Christian set to add Royal London One-Day Cup duties to his NatWest T20 Blast commitments.

Siddle had been earmarked for a return to Notts before suffering a stress fracture of his back during Australia’s Test series win over New Zealand.

Nottinghamshire director of cricket Mick Newell expects Bird, who represented Hampshire last season, to be a like-for-like replacement in the seam department.

“Having a bowler of international quality to spearhead our young seam attack is important for us, so we knew what type of player we wanted to go for,” said Newell.