YORKSHIRE have signed Kraigg Brathwaite as their overseas player for the final two Specsavers County Championship matches of the season.

The 24-year-old West Indies opening batsman joins as a replacement for Shaun Marsh, who has to return to Australia after next week's clash with Surrey at The Oval to prepare for their domestic season at the end of the month.

Brathwaite has played 49 times for the West Indies, including 39 times at Test level. He has scored six centuries in compiling 2,584 runs, including 134 and 95 in last week's memorable win over England at Headingley.

The Bajan right-hander will link up with Yorkshire immediately after the third Test at Lord's, which starts tomorrow, and will debut at home to Warwickshire, starting on September 19.

"It's a bit of a surprise," said Brathwaite, who is a candidate for a longer-term deal with the club next year.

"Playing county cricket was always one of my goals and coming over here to play against England for the West Indies was going to get me one step closer if I did well.

"Many of our past players have played in England and they always say it's the place to develop a better technique and learn more about batting, predominantly because the ball does a lot throughout the day.

"Playing in England, playing county cricket, will help me learn with every game, every day.

"It's a new experience playing with a county side in England, so firstly I'm looking forward to making new friends.

"Obviously I'll see how all the players go about their work and I'm hoping to lead the batting as the opener whilst given the opportunity."

Brathwaite debuted for the West Indies in 2011 and has posted scores of nought, 40, 134 and 95 in his four innings this series.

"Initially, coming to England I knew there would be a lot of opportunities, and one of my goals was to score as many runs as possible," he said.

"I wanted to lead the West Indies batting from the top and earn a chance to play some county cricket.

"Before the second Test, I was speaking to my agent. He was telling me that he was talking to Yorkshire's coaching staff.

"After the game, he came back to me telling me he was getting some quality feedback.

"They really wanted me and I was very happy because Yorkshire is a very big club in England and I'm very happy and proud to have been selected by them."

Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon admits this is an opportunity for both parties to size up the possibility of an overseas deal in 2018.

He said: "If he gets a lot of runs for us, he's going to stake a big claim. It's certainly a possibility going forward.

"We'll just take one step at a time and see how these two games go. If he goes well and enjoys his time here, it could be something we do going forward.

"When we found out that Shaun wasn't going to be available for the last two games, we looked at options to replace him.

"At such a late stage, and with Kraigg getting the runs he did at Headingley, it all came at the right time."

Yorkshire finish their season against leaders Essex at Chelmsford on September 25.