The 27-year-old right-hand batsman, who also bowls, replaces fellow countryman Jagadeesh Arunkumar, who was lined up as Station Road paid man before electing to take part in the inaugural season of the lucrative Indian Premier League.

Sathish played first class cricket for Tamil Nadu and Assam, for whom he averaged 37 runs in all games.

He joined the Indian Cricket League when it was formed at the back end of last year, which runs parallel to the BCCI, and helped Chennai Superstars to victory in the final of the Twenty/20 Indian Championship, being named man-of-the-match in the semi final.

He went on to captain the side in the ICL 50 overs tournament, which they also won.

And he remained skipper in the early games of the current competition, due to Stuart Law being with Lancashire in Dubai.

Last Friday he hit 86 off 42 balls in the third/fourth place play-off to beat Kolkata Tigers by 32 runs.

Law has given him a glowing reference to Whalley as a "keen, eager, dedicated, quality fielder, who hits the ball hard and will be a useful league bowler once he adapts to the climate and conditions".