FURNESS Cricket Club have swooped for Kiwi ace Seth Rance as their new professional for the 2016 North Lancs and Cumbria League season.

The Rams were forced to act fast after a deal sealed back in September to sign Sri Lankan international Kosala Kulasekara fell through last week due to visa issues.

That left the reigning Premier Division champions with a major problem in finding a quality replacement at short notice, with the season beginning at the end of April.

But their frantic search proved fruitful after club officials spoke to former Furness professional and ex-New Zealand paceman Shane Bond, and he recommended Central Districts seam bowling all-rounder Rance.

The 28-year-old certainly has the pedigree to prove a big hit following his successes with CD Stags in his homeland. Rance can lay claim to being the most economical seamer in New Zealand T20 cricket having taken 35 wickets at 19.85 over 29 matches, with an economy of 7.07 and a strike-rate of 16.8 balls per wicket.

The right-arm seamer is rated so highly he was included in the 2016 auction for the Indian Premier League, and although he didn’t manage to find an IPL team, the fact he was in the mix shows his shining credentials.

Furness paceman and North Lancs League XI ace Pete Lawson, who was heavily involved in securing the deal, said: “We’ve done well to get a player of his quality – especially at the time of year.

“He was in the IPL auction because he has such good T20 bowling figures so he might not have been down as available until very recently after the auction took place.

“We have probably timed it really well. If we had tried to sign him around Christmas time he probably won’t have been available because he was trying to get an IPL team.”

He added: “When we thought there might be a problem with the Kosala deal we got in touch with Bondy and he recommended a few players and Seth was one of them.

“Bondy was his bowling coach when Central Districts went to the Champions League. That’s how he knows him.

“He said he’s a really clever bowler and a top guy and all the rest of it, so it was an easy choice, once he gave us a reference.”

Rance also boasts back-to-back Ford Trophy titles with the CD Stags (2014/15 and 2015/16), helping them defend their crown by topping the one-day wicket charts during the latter (19 wickets at 13.78).

He has been an integral cog in the successful Stags machine since his T20 debut in 2009/10. Over the past two editions of the Georgie Pie Super Smash, he has been the Stags leading wicket-taker.

Rance replaces South African Calvin Savage as Furness pro as they look to make it seven Premier Division titles in eight years.

Scott Pearcey will proudly follow in his dad Grant’s footsteps by becoming captain, with Garry Thompson as his deputy, while Jake Woods has joined the ranks as a coach.

“We deliberately targeted Kosala because he had played Test cricket, he is 30 years old, he is keen to coach – a very experienced player whereas Calvin is a young lad,” added Lawson.

“And with it being Scott’s first year as captain, and more youth coming into the ranks, we wanted a pro with experience in all departments of the game.

“And this guy is basically a straight swap.

“He’s an experienced player, a community man and is very keen to coach. He’s club captain back home for his club side and he seems ultra keen which is what we want.”

Paying tribute to Springbok ace Savage, Lawson added: “Calvin did a great job on the field for us, especially for a young lad and his first time in the UK and we were very happy with him.

“But we deliberately targeted a more experienced guy this time who will strengthen all departments.”