Derbyshire have signed Pakistan Test star Mohammad Yousuf and South Africa's Jacques Rudolph for the 2006 season. The pair will share a single overseas berth at the County Ground after Australian Justin Langer turned down a chance to join the club as skipper.
Yousuf has scored more than 10,000 runs in international cricket, including a recent innings of 223 against England.
Rudolph made a match-saving 102 not out for South Africa in the first Test against Australia on Tuesday.
It will be the first taste of county cricket for both players. Australian opening bat Michael Di Venuto, who had a fine season in 2005, is retained as the other overseas player.
Yousuf will play for the first six weeks of the season, with Rudolph taking over in mid-May following a home series against New Zealand.
"Jacques was our first choice once Justin decided not to join us and we've been in contact with him for a little while.
"He is very similar to Justin in terms of the way he bats - he likes to play long innings - and he's one of the most talented young players in international cricket," chief executive Tom Sears told BBC Sport.
Derbyshire have still to appoint a skipper for next summer following Luke Sutton's departure to join Lancashire.
"We will make a decision on the captaincy when (director of cricket) David Houghton gets back in early January," said Sears.
"We are very optimistic about next summer. We are delighted about the players we've recruited and we have got some good young players from our academy now under contract.
"Probably for the first time since Dave joined us, every player in the squad is someone he would have picked to be in it."
MMIX
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