YORKSHIRE have announced the signing of South Africa fast bowler Duanne Olivier ahead of the 2019 season.

The 26-year-old has agreed an initial three-year deal with the county, subject to clearance through Kolpak regulations.

He will join his new team-mates for the first time during a pre-season tour in his homeland early next month.

The paceman has taken 48 wickets in 10 Tests since making his Proteas debut in 2017 and played both Tests against Sri Lanka this month. He has also represented his country in two one-day internationals.

Olivier, who played for Derbyshire in 2018, told Yorkshire's website: "I would be lying if I said this wasn't a difficult decision to make. It's giving up playing for my country with no guarantees of playing international cricket again.

"But at the end of the day, I needed to be true to myself. I've only got this one chance to see where my talent can take me and Yorkshire just felt right to me."

Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon said: "I think the fact he's giving up international cricket for South Africa to play here shows his commitment and I think he'll be a great asset for us."

"He’s a proven wicket-taker as we’ve seen in the series’ against Pakistan and Sri Lanka recently. He’s also got genuine pace so he gives us a different dimension within our seam bowling attack.

"We’re mindful that we’ve got some talented young seamers, but several of them have had injuries so we have to manage them carefully over the next couple of years. It gives us that strength in depth to compete on all fronts.

“He will meet the lads in Potchefstroom for about six days and the plan is for him to get over here in time for the Leeds-Bradford MCCU game."

Moxon added that the club see the player as a long-term fixture at Headingley.

He said: “We hope it’s going to be a long-term signing. It’s for an initial three years but we’re hoping it will be for longer than that.

“He played for Derbyshire and we were impressed with what we saw. We’ve tracked his career in South Africa and obviously he has been selected for the Test team and we’ve seen what he’s capable of in international cricket. He’s an impressive man as well as a cricketer and he’s very ambitious going forwards.”