Surrey sign Matthew Nicholson

Matthew Nicholson, the former Australia fast bowler and Azhar Mahmood, the Pakistan allrounder, will be Surrey's two overseas players for 2007.

Mahmood is a familiar presence at The Oval having spent the past six seasons with the club, but it will be new territory for Nicholson after spending last season with Northamptonshire. He enjoyed a reasonable summer with the ball - 46 wickets at 31.97 - and also contributed useful lower-order runs. He made his Test debut in 1998 against England but was since forgotten by the national selectors.

"I am extremely pleased to have Azhar on board again who has been an excellent servant for us over the past five seasons," Alan Butcher, Surrey's cricket manager said. "His ability with both bat and ball is unquestioned and gives us great flexibility in selection while Matthew will bring that added fire to our pace attack that we will certainly need moving into Division One. I'm really looking forward to working with him."