Nottinghamshire have signed New Zealand's top all-rounder Chris Cairns as their overseas player for the 2002 season.

Cairns, who has previously spent six seasons at Trent Bridge in three separate spells, has agreed a two-year contract and will join the club's push for promotion to Division One of the CricInfo Championship.

He said: "I am looking forward to renewing my relationship with Notts. Since my last year there in 1996 I have always kept an eye on how they're going in the Championship and I'm really excited about being a part of that next year.

"There will be many new faces at the club and I see there is some good young talent coming through, so I hope my experience can not only help the club to a great season but also help the young guys as well.

"With Clive Rice in charge I hope I can help bring back the glorious years of the 80s that he was a big part of. I admire his hard-nosed attitude to the game and look forward to working with him.

"The wickets at Notts are a bit more bowler friendly than when I was last there and I'm looking forward to them too!"

Said Notts Cricket Manager Clive Rice: "Chris is an out-and-out batsman and an out-and-out strike bowler rolled into one who will really bolster our team.

"He is a mirror image of what Richard Hadlee and myself aimed to be when we were playing for Notts and together with Paul Franks and Greg Smith will form a very strong three-pronged front line bowling attack.

"In scoring more than 1,200 runs Greg Blewett performed superbly for us last season with the bat, but he only took half a dozen wickets.

"I believe Chris, as one of the premier all-rounders in world cricket, is capable of matching that total while adding 35 to 40 wickets on top and provides the squad with a lot more depth."

In the PricewaterhouseCoopers world ratings, the 31-year-old Kiwi is currently ranked 21st with the bat and ninth with the ball, while in the list of all-rounders he rates third best behind South Africans Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis.

Cairns originally joined Notts as a 17-year-old in 1988 on a New Zealand Cricket Council scholarship and returned for the 1989 season.

He returned as overseas player in 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996, and to date has played 79 first class matches for the county.

© Nottinghamshire CCC