John Simpson, a quality wicketkeeper-batsman of England’s County cricket, will be playing for Kathmandu Gorkhas in the second edition of the Nepal Premier League. Simpson’s signing was announced on Tuesday.

Simpson has also played for the senior England team in a handful of ODIs. He was in the squad when Pakistan toured England for a three-match ODI series in July 2021, the event which England clean swept.

Simpson has over 11,000 runs in 229 matches in First Class cricket. He also has 2,123 runs in List A, and 3,163 runs in 195 T20s (173 innings).

Currently, Simposn, who spent over a decade in Middlesex, is the captain of Sussex in County Championship Division One. In his last match of the tournament in September, Simpson was not out at 129 off 160 during the first inning.

“Superb player,” the Irish cricket commentator Andrew Leonard wrote under Kathmandu Gorkhas’ post announcing the signing of Simpson. “This is a very, very clever signing from Kathmandu of a guy who’s playing the best cricket of his career! Go well Simpo.”

Similarly, the Gorkhas’ head coach Monty Desai said that the team was delighted to have Simpson in the squad, a development that would strengthen the batting as well as other key departments.

“Simpson brings proven leadership, experience, and composure to the group,” Desai, the former Nepali men’s head coach, said. “A left-handed wicketkeeper-batter with years of success at the county level and now leading Sussex, his professionalism and calm influence will be invaluable.”

Simpson is Kathmandu Gorkhas’ fifth signing. Their first four signings were Ricardo Vasconcelos, Gerhard Erasmus, Milind Kumar and Ben Charlesworth.