Ashton Turner: Durham sign Australia international for T20 Blast

Durham have signed Australia batter Ashton Turner for this season's T20 Blast.

The 29-year-old will captain the side, having led Perth Scorchers to victory over Sydney Sixers in January's Big Bash final in his home country.

He has played in 18 T20 games and nine one-day internationals for Australia.

"Ashton's had a really good T20 career and in the past year or two, his captaincy and leadership skills have shone," coach James Franklin said.

Speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle, Franklin continued: "[Leadership] was a skillset we were looking at to bolster our T20 squad and obviously he's a highly-regarded middle order batsman as well."

Turner has also played for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League and scored 1,888 runs in all domestic T20 games at a strike-rate of 136.