Surrey have signed Australian left-hander Kurtis Patterson for their three Rothesay County Championship matches in May.

They start with a trip to Edgbaston on Friday (May 9), taking on Warwickshire, before hosting Yorkshire (May 16-19) and Essex (May 23-26) at the Kia Oval, which will complete the opening half of their Division One programme.

With Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith joining Gus Atkinson in the England squad, Surrey elected to augment their top-order with Patterson, who turned 32 on Bank Holiday Monday. He has played two Tests for Australia, scoring an unbeaten century in the second against Sri Lanka at Canberra in 2019.

Unlucky to not make the Ashes tour which followed later that year, Patterson has been unable to find a way back into the side since then but his form in domestic cricket in the past southern summer was impressive, scoring 743 runs at an average of 57.15 in eight Sheffield Shield matches for his state, New South Wales. That was supplemented by making 137 for Australia A against England Lions.

Alec Stewart, Surrey’s high performance cricket advisor, explained: “With the non-availability of our England players, I’m pleased to add Kurtis Patterson to the squad. He’s a top-quality cricketer who will add to our batting line-up for the next three matches.”

After draws against Essex, Hampshire and Sussex, treble-champions Surrey opened their account by beating Somerset – leaving them in second place – before sitting out last weekend’s round of matches.

As well as welcoming Patterson, they are expected to be joined by New Zealand seamer Nathan Smith, who shone for Worcestershire last season. And there were encouraging signs of a return to fitness for bowling all-rounder Tom Lawes when he returned from a side strain to play for the county’s second team last week.

By Richard Spiller