Dwayne Smith celebrates taking a wicket at last year's World Cup

Sussex have made the last-ditch signing of West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Smith in time for this year's Twenty20 Cup.

Smith will start his first spell in English county cricket when Sussex kick off their Twenty20 campaign against Kent at Canterbury on Wednesday night.

The 25-year-old from Barbados, who has played in 10 Tests and 71 one-day internationals, had been playing Bolton League cricket for Westhoughton.

But he will now take over while Mushtaq Ahmed recovers from a knee injury.

The fact that he bats, bowls and fields means he will be a like-for-like replacement for Luke Wright when he joins England Sussex coach Mark Robinson

Sussex already have one Barbados man on the staff on in Corey Collymore. And coach Mark Robinson was pleased to get this latest signing in the bag following his recent return from action in the Indian Premier League.

"We've had to move quickly on this following injury to Mushy," he said.

"And, at a day's notice, I feel very lucky to have gained such a high quality player.

"Dwayne impressed in the World Cup last year and is also a team-mate of Corey Collymore in Barbados so we've been able to gain a good inside knowledge of him."

Sussex have been further weakened by the loss of Luke Wright on England duty, the young all-rounder having been called up for the one-day series against New Zealand.

"The fact that he bats, bowls and fields means he will be a like-for-like replacement for Luke when he joins England," said Robinson.

After qualifying for finals day last year, Sussex are now even keener to match that feat this time round, given the �2.5m end-of-season incentive of the Champions League.