Melbourne Renegades have pulled off a significant BBL signing by luring English wicketkeeper-batter Joe Clarke from cross-town rivals Stars.
Clarke, who briefly played for Perth Scorchers in the 2020-21 season, has been an integral part of Stars over the last two seasons with 800 runs 30.76 and a strike-rate of 136.98.
But he now becomes Renegades' third overseas signing alongside Quinton de Kock and Mujeeb Ur Rahman having not been taken in the draft last month. A mechanism exists which allows clubs to sign their third name after the draft has taken place.
Clarke is set to open the batting alongside de Kock, but it will be the South African who will initially take the gloves before handing them to Clarke when he returns home for the SA20.
However, Renegades will need to secure another wicketkeeping option with Clarke due to leave for ILT20 towards the backend of the BBL. They lost Sam Harper when he was traded to Stars in return for Adam Zampa.
"Joe was an active part of our overseas draft strategy this year," Melbourne Renegades general manager James Rosengarten said. "While we were limited in how we could use our picks at the overseas player draft, we had a plan to secure Joe as quickly as we could and it came off which is great for our Club.
"To have secured three overseas players that were listed in the platinum overseas player group is a super result for the Renegades and our members and fans.
"Whilst Quinton will take the gloves as our primary wicketkeeper, Joe is also a strong keeper who will be able to keep when Quinton is unavailable, giving us greater flexibility with our overseas replacement player options."
"We really like the way Joe plays the game," he added. "He's an attacking player from the top who can set up a game quickly and we think he'll a perfect fit with our other top order batters."
Renegades will also lose Mujeeb late in the season as he, too, holds an ILT20 deal.
Melbourne Renegades squad Nic Maddinson (capt), Joe Clarke, Quinton de Kock, Harry Dixon, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Will Sutherland, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jon Wells, Adam Zampa