BOLTON cricketer Matt Parkinson has agreed to join the Melbourne Stars for this season's Big Bash competition.

The 21-year-old Lancashire leg-spinner, from Heaton, has signed for the Stars alongside Nepal bowler Sandeep Lamichhane.

Lamichhane, who plays for the Sylhet Sixers in the Bangladesh Premier League, will join the Stars for the start of the season in December, with Parkinson, who went to Bolton School and Canon Slade sixth form, set to replace the teenager for the second half of the campaign.

"I am hugely excited to have signed for the Melbourne Stars. It's one of the biggest T20 competitions in the world and I can't wait to get over there and meet the rest of the squad," Parkinson told Lancashire's website.

"It's a competition I have watched and admired for a long time and one that I've always wanted to play in.

"To have the chance to play for the Stars at the Melbourne Cricket Ground would be a dream come true."

Melbourne Stars list manager Trent Woodhill said: "I watched Matt bowl for Lancashire in the Vitality Blast this season where he helped them reach the semi-finals with some dominant performances."