Yorkshire have pulled off the exciting capture of South African master blaster Herschelle Gibbs as their Twenty20 specialist.

The 35-year-old batsman will arrive in time for the first Friends Provident 20-over clash with Durham on June 10, and will be available for the rest of the campaign.

The announcement comes less than a week after the club revealed that New Zealand bowler Daryl Tuffey would be the early season replacement for Ryan Harris.

“I’m really looking forward to playing over there, and I’ll hopefully help to lead the troops towards some sort of success,” said the Cape Town-born player, who is currently in India on international duty.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing cricket in the UK and have very good memories of Headingley, as I got my first World Cup hundred there in 1999.”

Not only is Gibbs an explosive talent with the bat at the top of the order in the limited overs arena, but he is also a superb fielder at backward point. He has played 246 one-day internationals, 20 Twenty20 internationals and 90 Test matches for the Proteas.

At the 2007 50-over World Cup in the West Indies, he smashed Dutch spinner Dan van Bunge for six sixes in an over.

Despite amassing close to 14,500 international runs, there is one accolade missing off his CV. He added: “I’m still yet to get a hundred in Twenty20 cricket. I promised myself that I would get at least a few before I call it quits one day.”