Exclusive by Andrew Gidley

Kent newboy Wayne Parnell says he is "excited" about the chance to play county cricket in England.

The 19-year-old South African left arm seamer (pictured) arrived at Heathrow on Monday and met his new colleagues at Canterbury on Tuesday, before joining in his first practice session.

He said: "I got the call from my agent during the third one-day international against Australia, saying Kent were interested in signing me. I'm excited to be here and it will be good experience for me ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup here in June."

Things have happened quickly for the Port Elizabeth-born teenager, who has signed initially for six weeks He made his first class debut for Eastern Province at the age of 16 and skippered the Under-19s to the World Cup final in Malaysia last year, where he was leading wicket-taker in the tournament. He made his Twenty 20 debut and one-day international debut in Australia in January

He added: "I have only been left school for 15 months, so didn’t expect to play for my country so soon. I have worked hard but still not taking anything for granted. Everyone’s helped me quite a bit and I'm looking forward to my spell with Kent."

Director of Cricket Graham Ford has monitored Parnell’s progress while waiting for his visa application to be cleared and the county targeted the youngster as replacement for Australian Stuart Clark

Parnell looks set to make his debut in the LV Division 2 County Championship match against Essex which starts at Chelmsford on Wednesday. Loan signing Steffan Jones rejoins the squad after being inelgible to play against his own county in the Friends Provident Trophy defeat at Taunton on Sunday