CRICKET: Essex enforcer Ryan ten Doeschate is planning on becoming Tasmania’s secret weapon in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 campaign.

And the all-rounder started in style against Western Australia by taking two wickets for three runs in a single over at the WACA.

Ten Doeschate’s haul helped the Tasmanian Tigers to a 63-run win over the Warriors.

And the Tigers believe the Netherlands all-rounder, who played in New Zealand’s domestic Twenty20 competition for the Canterbury Wizards, could be the surprise packet of the KFC Twenty20 “Big Bash” tournament with his hard-hitting batting and handy bowling taking centre stage against the other five states.

Ten Doeschate, 30, is relatively unknown as a non-international player in Australia, but is determined to hold his own against other overseas recruits including West Indies skipper Chris Gayle (Western Australia), Lancashire fast bowler Sajid Mahmood (Western Australia), England wicket-keeper batsman Matt Prior (Victoria), and Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid (South Australia).

Pakistan and Sussex fast bowler Rana Naved has joined Ten Doeschate as Tasmania’s second permitted overseas player.

“For any non-international player Australia is probably the final frontier,” ten Doeschate said.

“I had a pretty good start to the English summer, especially in Twenty20 and One-Day cricket, and my manager in England got in touch with the guys here.

“I was surprised to get a call but I think there is value in drafting guys from around the county scene with lesser profiles.

“Hopefully I can be that value for money.”

In six Twenty20 games for Essex last summer ten Doeschate cracked 19 sixes and averaged 59.2 with the bat at an impressive strike rate of 177.2 before being sidelined with an ankle injury.

Tigers coach Tim Coyle is an admirer of Ten Doeschate’s match-winning abilities in the shortest form of the game.

And he is confident the Essex star will play a pivotal role in helping Tasmania to reach its inaugural Twenty20 domestic final on the road to Champions Trophy riches.

“We had a really thorough assessment of our Twenty20 cricket at the end of last season, having not achieved the results we should be,” Coyle said.

“One of the areas last year was our batting, and in saying that I think we have got some good Twenty20 batters, but history says the last two years we haven’t performed.

“We’ve done our research and looked all around the world and, as we do with most of our recruiting, we look for the skills we need, but a very strong part of our recruitment is looking for the right person to fit into our team.”

Tasmania and Scotland captain George Bailey has witnessed some of ten Doeschate’s destructive batting at first hand is relishing the prospect of joining forces with the biggest name in Dutch cricket.

“Ryan is a key player for Essex,” Bailey said. “He’s a match-winner with both bat and ball.”

Ten Doeschate will hope to be in Tigers’ squad for their next Twenty20 fixture against Queens-land Blues at the Gabba on Friday.

The remaining fixtures are: Sunday, January 11 v Victoria Bushrangers; Wednesday January 19 v New South Wales Blues; Mon-day, January 24 v South Australia Redbacks and Thursday, January 27 v Western Australia Warriors. The preliminary final for the second and third placed teams is on Tuesday, February 3, with the grand final between the first team and the winner of the preliminary final taking place on Saturday, February 5.