London: Australia batsman Greg Blewett will stand in for compatriot Andrew Symonds as a Kent overseas player for the first six weeks of the season, the English county confirmed on Wednesday. Symonds will be away on Australia's tour in the West Indies and Blewett, who has not played international cricket for three years, will cover until the all-rounder's return from the Caribbean. "Andrew has a busy playing schedule ahead of him in the next few weeks. We expect to see him in England ready to play for Kent at the start of June," Kent's director of cricket Ian Brayshaw told the BBC. This will be Blewett's third spell in county cricket, the 31-year old South Australia batsman having previously played for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. A stylish stroke-player, Blewett has scored 15,501 first-class runs during his career at an average of 46.54, including 42 centuries. He has also taken 128 wickets with his useful medium pace bowling. "Greg has a proven track record at international level and in county cricket and we are sure he wants to make a success of his time at Kent," Brayshaw commented. Blewett burst onto the international scene by making a hundred on Test debut at his home ground of Adelaide against England. Two years later, he achieved his highest Test score of 214 against South Africa in Johannesburg. But such was the strength of Australia's batting line-up that he has not featured in a Test since the second match of the 1999/2000 series against New Zealand in Wellington. In 46 Tests middle-order batsman Blewett has scored 2,552 runs at an average of 34.02. He has also played 32 One-day Internationals for Australia and remains a member of the Australia 'A' team. Copyright AFP 2001

Tags: cricket, greg blewett, andrew symonds, kent, overseas player, ian brayshaw, south australia, yorkshire, nottinghamshire.