Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell believes that Northamptonshire’s capture of Virender Sehwag for the Friends Provident t20 will further enhance the quality of the competition.

Sehwag and the Steelbacks will be in action at Trent Bridge on Tuesday 22 June and Newell thinks that the performance of the aggressive opener will have a big bearing on the direction of the match.

“It’s a great signing for Northants but it’s also a great signing for the competition,” said Newell.

“County players want to play with and against the best players available for this competition and the ECB’s rationale behind allowing two overseas players per team was to provide an opportunity for club’s to sign big names.

“In Twenty20 cricket, brilliance from one player can win a match which is why it’s so important to have world class performers in your side.”

Notts Outlaws will be served by Dirk Nannes, Sehwag’s Delhi Daredevils team mate, and David Hussey although Ali Brown and Matthew Wood are likely to open the batting with Hussey coming in at three or four.

“Sehwag has a similar style to David Hussey in that he likes to play with aggression and clear the rope but if he opens the batting then he can have a big influence from the start,” said Newell.

“We’ve still got some thinking to do about how we structure our batting line-up in the competition but if the match is billed as Sehwag versus Hussey then it will be an intriguing battle.”

Kolkata secured Hussey’s services in the inaugural Indian Premier League for $625,000 whilst Sehwag commanded $833,750 as Delhi’s so called ‘icon player’.