Following in the footsteps of Kagiso Rabada, Proteas pace bowler Hardus Viljoen has been signed as Kent’s overseas player for the last four Championship matches of the season.

With a change coming in the county set-up, only one team will be promoted this season, and Kent lie third in Division Two.

Rabada joined Kent on a month’s contract in July and was an immediate success across all formats of the game. Kent are hoping that Viljoen, who made his only Test appearance against England in January (taking the wicket of Alastair Cook with his first ball) will be similarly effective.

The Highveld Lions player has recently been in action for South Africa A, playing in Townsville against Australia A and Harare against Zimbabwe A.

Kent’s chairman of cricket, Graham Johnson, said: ‘We’ve carried a lot of injuries in the seam bowling department this summer. With four important games left in the campaign we wanted to give ourselves the best chance to build on the work done to get us into the current position to challenge for that one promotion spot. The experience and spark that Hardus can bring will be important in the run-in.’

Kent are currently 24 points behind leaders Essex and one point behind second-placed Leicestershire.