Somerset have responded to a short-term injury crisis by bringing in South Africa A batter Jordan Hermann to strengthen the batting for their next three County Championship games.
Hermann, 24, averages 45.22 in first-class cricket, with seven hundreds. He made his South Africa debut in a T20I against New Zealand in March - although injury ruled out further involvement on the tour - and has been named in the South Africa A red-ball group for two four-day games against England Lions later this month.
He will now arrive in the UK ahead of the tour party in order to be available for Somerset's home game against Sussex next week, then link up again with the club after the Lions games for two more fixtures in June, against Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire.
"I'm excited by the opportunity of playing County Championship cricket for Somerset," Hermann said. "I'm always looking to get better and hopefully playing in English conditions can help take my game to the next level. Somerset have begun the season well and hopefully I can help to contribute to the team carrying on that good start."
Somerset are currently without first-choice opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who fractured his thumb in the second game of the season, as well as middle-order batters Tom Banton (finger injury) and Lewis Goldsworthy (hamstring). Thomas Rew is also unavailable while he sits his A-Levels.
Andy Hurry, Somerset's director of cricket, said: "We have suffered a number of injuries to key batters in the last month, so we felt that this was the perfect opportunity to strengthen the batting line up, and Jordan will certainly help to strengthen our options in that department.
"Jordan is a player with a growing reputation, and we look forward to him helping us to maintain our positive start to the County Championship campaign."