North Albury Cricket Club sign Pakistani duo Tahir Baig and Nabeel Arshad

The Hoppers, who also won the T20 competition last season, will be strengthened by the addition of Tahir Baig and Nabeel Arshad as they look to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

Both players arrive at Bunton Park with experience of competing at elite levels and look set to pack a real punch with bat and ball.

"Tahir's played in the Pakistan Super League 2nd XI comp," North Albury coach and captain Matt Condon revealed.

"He's an opening bat and right-arm off-spinner so he'll be a very good addition to replace Tim Hartshorn's role from last year.

"Nabeel is an opening bowler, he's in that 2nd XI squad with Tahir and from what we've seen, he also whacks them.

"I've seen a bit of footage and these guys can play.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing Tahir try to open up the game at the top of the order and for Nabeel, to see what he can do with the new pill."

Hartshorn announced his retirement at the end of last season but may play occasionally in 2022/23, with Condon excited about the improvement to come from some other rising stars.

"There's going to be opportunity for our younger guys," Condon said.

"We've got guys like Ben Paddle and Riley Holland really cementing their spots in first grade and Blake Elliott obviously had a good look at first grade last year and he's come back bigger and better again.

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"Riley's quite an aggressive bat, he batted three all year in second grade last year and really took the game on.

"He'll look to come in, when he gets his opportunities in first grade, and be that hard-hitting lower-order player.

"He's an absolute weapon in the field as well."

Meanwhile, leg-spinner Callum Langlands looks set to play an even bigger role than he did in the premiership-winning campaign.

"I think Cal will get better again," Condon said.

"He did well with the ball last year and I'm expecting a bigger season from him with the bat.

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"I also think Tom Hemsley's role in the team will increase.

"We saw what he did in the grand final last year with a very valuable 30-odd runs and 10 overs so I expect him to play a much bigger role and he'll be much improved again."

Condon will be available to play throughout after missing much of last season with a hip issue which he continues to manage.

"We feel ready," he said.

"Our batters have been able to hit a lot of balls and most of our bowlers have come off a season of footy so they're in decent nick.

"We want to improve and most players have got 10 percent better again."

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