London, Oct 24 (IANS): Australian pacer Michael Neser has joined Surrey as overseas player for the first half of the 2020 County Championship campaign.

Neser, who has played two ODIs for Australia, will initially join Surrey until early July, and his availability for the exact number of matches will become clear when the 2020 fixtures are announced next month.

His two ODI appearances for Australia came in England during the 2018 season; the first of which was played at The Kia Oval where he claimed the wickets of Alex Hales and Moeen Ali.

He was then part of the Australian squad for this summer's Ashes series, although he is yet to make his Test debut.

The 29-year-old right-arm seamer and lower order batsman has more than 250 career wickets and got off to an excellent start in the 2019/20 Sheffield Shield earlier this month with a five-wicket haul for Queensland.

That continued the momentum from his imperious form in the 2018/19 Australian domestic season, in which he hit seven half-centuries and took 33 wickets at an average of 23.03 including 5/15 against Western Australia.

"It has been a long held ambition of mine to play county cricket. To be able to do so at The Kia Oval alongside some fabulous players is obviously hugely exciting for me. I look forward to contributing and helping the guys challenge at the top of the County Championship in 2020," Neser said.