New Zealand star poised to make Warwickshire debut

The 33-year-old’s arrival at Edgbaston was delayed by a month after he suffered the injury while practicing in the nets.

But he is now fit and ready to make his Bears bow on Friday against defending champions Surrey in the Rothesay County Championship.

“It’s nice to finally be here,” said Latham. “It’s been great to meet all the guys and get stuck into a  bit of training.

“I was disappointed to be ruled out for the first few games. But now I’m here I want to make up for lost time, put my best foot forward and help the team win games of cricket for Warwickshire.

“I’ve been back hitting for a couple of weeks, everything is tracking in the right direction and I’m looking forward to the game coming up in a few days.”

Latham, available to play in all three formats for the 2025 summer, is by some distance the club’s most high-profile overseas signing.

The dad-of-two has moved to the Midlands for the summer and will add experience and quality to a young Warwickshire team which has enjoyed an impressive start to the summer, winning two of their first four County Championships matches.

That is already one more than they managed in the whole of last season, though Surrey - who are aiming for a fourth successive title - will provide a stern test.

Latham played five matches for them in 2023 and said: “It’ll be nice to play Surrey first up. There will be a few familiar faces in their side and it’ll be good to catch up with them.

“But I’m on the other side now. I’ll be doing all I can to play a role for the Bears and get another win on the board.

“Surrey are a quality side. We’ve seen it over the last few seasons with them winning the Championship title. 

“But I’ve been keeping tabs on Warwickshire’s performances from New Zealand and the guys are in good form especially that performance up in Leeds last week.

“Hopefully I can come in and add a little bit to the group, and we can put in another good performance against the defending champions.”